Downward Spiral
by Szept
Summary: One bad decision is all it takes to put a person on the path of pain and self destruction. Lies, deception and violence are nothing new to Vi, for no matter how much she tries to put these behind her, they always seem to find her.
1. 1 - 1

Another sleepless night is definitely not how Vi wants to spend her time, despite this, those nights have recently established themselves become something of a pattern in her life. Yeah, sure, as an officer she sometimes has to cut her sleep and respond to an emergency... operative word being _sometimes_. She never complained nor will she start now, but lately- the Enforcer is tired, more so than she remembers ever being.

She narrowly manages not to crash into another car that she can swear was not there a second before. What does she even have the beacon for if people don't get out of her way? She has always loved the fact that the city never really sleeps but it only irks her now. The woman rubs her bloodshot eyes as she tries to focus on the road but to no anvil.

"I fucking swear, when I get that bitch I'll smash her head in." However much that would disgrace her and her career.

And it would be worth it.

Ever since Jinx arrived in Piltover, Vi can see everything she has worked so hard for literally fall apart in the mad girl's wake. Crime that Caitlyn has worked years to wipe out has resurfaced in a matter of days. She wrecked Jayce's lab, destroying who knows how many priceless prototypes (some of which Vi had a hand in creation), destroyed the treasury and engaged in random acts of violence and vandalism all around the city. She hasn't hit the academy yet but they have already began securing it, what with it being one of the most likely places the criminal would want to destroy. Everyone fears for their lives, and no one dares stay out of home for longer than necessary. For all the good it does. Jinx is not picky about the buildings she levels.

The whole of Piltover in chaos, all because of a single person.

Vi comes to a screeching halt in the front of the police tape, quickly puts her gauntlets on and gets out of the car, only then does she notice the location she's arrived at. She hasn't really bothered connecting the given address with location but looking at the complex in front of her she feels like an idiot for it now.

Piltover's Fireworks Factory.

Well shit.

At least she's not feeling sleepy anymore. Tired as old gears but Vi can feel the adrenaline coursing through her body already. She briskly walks over to the officer in charge, giving nods to the rest of her colleagues as she goes. They all look like they need a week off. It's no wonder, they've all been working double shifts to contain the resurfaced Piltover crime, what with Caitlyn relentlessly trying to work out a pattern, plan, _something (anything)_, to catch Jinx. Their trap at the treasury was a spectacular failure, but it was also an eye opener, making them realize they are dealing with someone quite willing to die in an attempted escape rather than get caught.

"Derricks, what's the situation?" She asks as she reaches the officer she's been looking for, a well-built man of average height and dark hair. Competent, curt, ideal for his position.

"Enforcer," he greets her back "Blue haired female spotted in the factory's office building roughly fifteen minutes ago, carrying various weapons. Civilians evacuated and vacated from the vicinity. Thirty three officers on scene including you. We closed off two emergency entrances and the main one here. Sheriff is on her way with backup, firefighters and paramedics too."

"Jinx will just blow her way out, no point in guarding doors."

"It's for keeping people out, we can't secure the entire area with what we've got."

Vi growls in frustration, she should have realized that herself without anyone telling. She follows Derricks as he motions to the factory plans laid upon a police car's mask.

"Workers told me that the depot is full to the brink, was to be emptied this morning." Vi's eyes widen at that piece of information. How did she know- how does she keep hitting them where it hurts the most at the worst moments possible?"Here, we can get there quickly with trucks when they arrive."

"And when's that?"

"Nine through thirteen minutes. Sheriff's orders are to stay put unless the situation escalates."

So Twerp will have already been here for at least half an hour when backup arrives, given how she wasn't spotted right away. Half an hour of an insane pyromaniac left alone in a fireworks factory with a shipment of pyrotechnics nice and ready to blow up.

Damn it.

"You stay put, I'm going in." The man's brows furrow in displeasure.

"Sheriff's orders are to wait for backup."

"Too long, every minute counts. Cupcake knows that, and I'm tougher than you guys are." She shouts over her shoulder, already running towards the entrance.

That. And she's got a score to settle with her.

Derricks sighs and moves over to the radio to inform the Sheriff of this development.

Vi does not immediately go in the direction of the depot when she's inside. Instead choosing to follow Jinx's trademark neon pink scribbles that now 'adore' the walls, leading her deeper into the complex.

Paint.

Of course she would find time to vandalize walls in a middle of a break in. Small mercies, she hasn't gone on a rampage- thanks to which the employes had the chance to get out unharmed. Another thing about Jinx, she doesn't seem to care for killing, just wreaking havoc, casualties being people unfortunate enough to get in the crossfire.

No more than toys for her sick amusement.

Vi stops paying attention to the tags, simply following them as they lead her through the reception and offices, thorough dimly lit hallways ,up the stairs, second floor, hallways, offices, canteen, nothing disturbed, nothing destroyed, the only sign of the little terrorist's presence being pink smears on the walls. It's silent, eerily so, especially considering who is it Vi is looking for. She finally comes to a stop before a door marked with a giant X, director's office. The Enforcer glances at the light coming from under the door and rolls her shoulders and braces herself for a fight.

The door shatters and flies off its hinges as she smashes herself through it and immediately takes cover behind her gauntlets. Nothing. No Jinx. What in gears has she been led here for then? She inspects her surroundings and scowls as her eyes land upon a crude drawing of herself on the glass wall. She walks to the glass and looks out through it. Across the storage yard, with various containers strewn about she sees a bright light in... the production hall she thinks. A lone figure stands in front of the truck entrance. Scantly clad, blue haired, lithe and appearing to be in argument with her rocket launcher.

The figure turns her head towards the offices and suddenly jumps up, enthusiastically waving at Vi in a mock greeting, shouting something the pinkette can't pick up over the distance and wall in between them, she can't see her expression either but is sure it's one of maniacal glee, it always is. Wait. Jinx saw her, shit!

The pinkette charges her weapons and smashes through the glass just as a rocket passes by her face and blows up behind her. Vi is sent soaring through air to the concrete parking lot two floors down, she manages to land (crash really) without breaking anything but even so, she still feels the impact bruise her bones.

The officer pulls herself up, ignoring the protesting muscles and is immediately forced to bolt sideways as yet another rocket flies by her, bringing down the wall behind her. Near miss, way too close. But she isn't sent to the ground this time and charges towards the criminal, who has in the meanwhile switched her weapon of choice to the pink minigun. Vi activates her blast shield as she goes, just in the nick of time as she hears bullets make impact with it. While her left hand is occupied by protecting herself she begins charging up the right gauntlet to close the remaining distance, knowing that when her shield is broken, she is sure to take a shot despite her head and torso being protected by her babies, Jinx's hailstorm of bullets is too much even for them.

Finally in range, she drops the guard and releases the energy pent up in her gauntlet, propelling her towards the bluenette. Seeing this, Jinx throws herself out of the way and follows that by throwing one of her chompers at Vi, who has slammed into a wall in front of which the maniac stood not a second ago, making a hole in it. She quickly brings her gauntlets in front of herself and deflects the granade towards the wall break she's made. Again, Vi shields her face from the shrapnel of the explosion, the rest of her body is protected enough for her not to care much about it. Jinx uses this momentarily distraction to whip out Zap. This, Vi knows she can't ignore, bullets are fair game for her but were the energy blast from that gun to hit her she would be immobilized and squirming on the ground, her gloves would go to shit too if they got hit directly, the circuits would fry and she can't let that happen.

So she dives inside the hole she's made, hearing a whizzing sound just behind her back in mid-jump. She quickly regards her surroundings and swears, yeah, this is the production hall alright, full of shelves with tons of boxes full of black powder and dyes, half made fireworks lying on worktables, it's a cogs damned miracle it didn't all blow up with that grenade.

"Hey Fats, playing hide and seek now? I'm a champ!"

"Shut up twat!" She can't fight here, her own gauntlets can easily set the materials off with a discharge were she to use them to their full potential, as she is sure to do.

"Oh come on that's just rude, calling me names." Shouts Jinx as she backs away towards the factory's storage, aiming Zap in the general direction of the building Vi is hiding in, the girl has checked the depot before and is giddy at the prospect of seeing it go up in flames, all the pretty fireworks just waiting for a hero to free them. But priorities must be kept and if Fathands wants to play then she can't possibly refuse her. Besides, she loves playing hide and seek, almost as much as blowing stuff up! Or tag and tagging, with guns as much as with spray, buildings and people alike. She giggles at the thought, so much fun and all at once!

"Catch me if you can!" The bluenette shouts as she turns around and speeds off towards the warehouse, it being an awesome place to hide- in her mind- so full of possibilities!

Vi crashes through the wall a good twenty meters away from her previously made entrance to see the mad girl running with speed she is doubtful to ever achieve herself. Straight into the fireworks storage.

"Cait's gonna kill me." She murmurs, shakes her head to clear it of stray thoughts and begins cautiously approaching the building, dashing from one container to another. Watching for lights in the windows since the warehouse is not lit, when she's halfway there is when the first rocket comes, making her throw herself sideways and thankful to the universe for a container the rocket hit not being full of explosives.

"C'mon, find me!" Shouts the maniac as Vi is almost in range for a charge. The pinkette grits her teeth and runs straight into the warehouse, the mad girl indeed not shooting and in hiding. She pulls her goggles down onto her eyes and hits the night vision switch on their side, useful little thing she and Jayce built months ago. The green tinted vision of what's inside the building makes Vi trip over her feet.

The place is full with fireworks to the fucking brink, right up the fifteen meters high ceiling. What in gears! Isn't there some kind of regulation against this?

Vi grits her teeth, cursing under her nose. She has to get Jinx. If she blows this up the whole district will be on fire.

She looks up, to the catwalks from which the bluenette must have been shooting,the girl is not there any longer, still- only so much time to hide so she can't have ran off too far into the warehouse. With that in mind she marches in direction where she can see the stairs connecting to the pathways above her head, somewhere in the middle of aisles created by the packs of violate materials. She checks the time on her gauntlet and can scarcely believe that only six minutes have passed since she entered the complex.

Is that a gun barrel sticking out from behind the corner? A vicious smile graces Vi's lips as she realizes that while she can see mostly well, the Loose Cannon has no way of spotting her. With a jerk of her hand she sets her gauntlet for a charge and sets it off with a shout a moment after. She dashes forward, knocking aside the cargo in her way, some of it coming down from top of the piles with enough force to easily crush a human.

But when Vi blasts through the last of crates, it is not a surprised criminal's mug that she is greeted by, but by Jinx's minigun strapped to a support pillar, into which she slams, punching a hole right through it. The roof gives off a strained sound and Vi looks around wildly.

"Hey idiot!" Up "Zap!"

Every muscle in Vi's body screams in agony along with the Enforcer herself as the pain of all her nerves being simultaneously burned throughout every inch of her being, soars through the woman's body. Her muscles keep working on their own accord, making the pinkette thrash uncontrollably on the floor. It goes on for what feels like forever and when it finally stops, Vi realizes she can't move an inch, all her (already lacking) energy completely spent, it's the same case for her goggles which went dead after the electricity presumably boiled the battery. She falls flat on the back, her breathing ragged and heavy- making up for the uncontrollable spasms the woman's lungs went through. After a moment, she finds herself being stripped of her headgear. She blinks a couple of times, not seeing a thing, while feeling Jinx sitting herself on her stomach, and then she sees them, these two red irises seemingly glinting in the dark.

"Really Fats, I know you're stupid but that is on a new level. I mean, durr, your name right? Seriously though, that was ridiculous. Like, hah! You shoulda seen your face when you got hit!" The owner of said irises says in an entirely too cheery manner while strapping her minigun by her waist. What does she mean see? How could she have seen her?

Did she turn off her gauntlets' lights? She honestly can't remember and... oh, she can see more and more as her eyes adjust to the shadows cast by the dim blue lights of both her inventions and Zap. It seems like she has indeed forgotten.

"Piss off Twerp." She manages to breathe out.

"Such manners! Gotta make up for Hat Lady's company, hah, no really, where is she anyway? Nah, nah doesn't matter. Now. Where did I... aha!" Blood drains from Vi's face when she sees the remote in the maniac's hands. Fingers twirling around the switch.

"Jinx you retarded shit don't you dare use that." Time, she needs to buy Cupcake some time. It's all she can do at this point.

"Yeah... no I don't think so," answers the criminal as she starts dragging Vi towards the entrance. The Pinkette feels entirely too helpless to her liking. "I wanna show you something, so just shut up and- damn it you really are fat- shut up and watch." She finishes as she puts Vi's back against the wall near the door, so that she faces the production hall and may see the show Jinx has readied beforehand. Her ever present grin morphs into something more... gentle, or maybe just less insane, Vi knows not. Then she puts her thumb on the remote's switch.

"For fuc-"

They are both blown away by the combined shockwave of explosives and fireworks that Jinx set up in the warehouse beforehand.

Jinx lands on her back with a painful grunt and just lies there for a moment, dazed. Allowing herself to marvel at the fires in the sky before she feels one of them whizzing just past her ear, yup, time to bail. She sits up, dizzy and ears ringing. Oh she will be one big bruise in a couple of minutes, the girl is fairly sure she has Fishbones printed on her back after that landing, though she can't feel much pain right now. She blinks the stars away and looks around.

Where is Pinktard?

Aha! Crushed against one of the containers, passed out, must have hit her head if the blood oozing down her face is any clue. The criminal groans as she sees that, all her hard work and Fathands won't even see it. Ugh. She stands up and assesses her own body, cuts, bruises, burns, all is good, she can move. But Vi can't. Well she can't let her just burn here, that would spoil all her fun. With that in mind she sluggishly runs over to the limp Enforcer and after some effort, manages to throw the woman over her shoulders. Swaying on her legs, Jinx stumbles to the sewer entrance through which she found her way in.

"Umpf, no but seriously, she must cut on doughnuts, hey Fishbones, mind giving me a hand here?"

"You could lose her gauntlets." Idiot.

"Or I could loose you, how'd you like that?" There is no way she can leave Vi's best friends here like that. "How would she chase us without 'em?"

"I think you just don't want to hurt her feelings."

"I'll hurt your feelings if you don't shut up." She spits back as she drops her Enforcer through the hole in the ground, she hopes she hasn't broken anything in the fall, that would be annoying. She turns around and gives the flaming show all around her a wistful look, pouting as she thinks of her mistake, wrong remote, she was supposed to blow up the warehouse AFTER the production hall, not the other way around. Eh, details, she grins as she pulls out the right device and presses the switch, her eyes litting up with mirth as the sky is filled with even more colors. Oh how she would love to stay and watch, but again, priorities. Fats needs help.

And so she turns back, then jumps into the dark.

* * *

Share your thoughts?


	2. 1 - 2

She sits in silence, as does the rest of the Quick Response Group in the truck Caitlyn finds herself in. The Sheriff's fingers keep caressig her rifle, a sign of nervousness that overtook her when the first report came in. The woman leans back in her seat and places the butt of her weapon on the metal floor. Every few seconds she has to quash the need to load it. Nevertheless, her free hand constantly hoovers over the magazine belt. Regulations that she herself put in place regarding carrying ammunition are there for a reason.

She manages not to fondle the barrel for the entirety of ten seconds before beginning anew. The stillness is driving her insane. And knowing that she can do nothing for the next ten minutes doesn't help in that regard.

The Sheriff rubs her stinging eyes, she needs a day off, or two. She has lately taken to sleeping through days in order to be ready for madness that inevitably comes at night. Jinx mostly causes havoc after dark, not exclusively- mind, but mostly. Enough to warrant her new schedule. She had suggested doing the same to Vi but the pinkette refused. Seeing as she does a lot to contain the resurfaced crime, Caitlyn can't really complain. She pulls through well enough- as the entire Force does. It must be enough until she devises a way to end this chaos.

Her attention snaps to the ringing radiophone at her side. Derricks was to call her were situation to escalate, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach emerges as she picks the handset up to her ear.

"Sheriff on the line, what's the situation?"

"Officer Vi just entered the complex. Orders?"

The brunette's mind goes blank for a second before singular thoughts begin cracking through.

Vi. Jinx. Fireworks factory. Housing estates. Jinx.

She blinks a couple of times before noticing her knuckles have clenched white around the rifle, along with how her subordinates in the truck are sending curious looks her way. The woman loosens the grip on her weapon and silently sighs.

When her office was notified of the Loose Canon strolling through the factory's grounds, she knew straight away that this would end in disaster. Either with loss of life or colossal property damage. While she hates seeing what that maniac's escapades do to her city, she's joined the Force to protect the citizens of Piltover first, and their possessions later. Thus it is not really a question for her what to do when faced with a choice between immediately trying to apprehend the criminal or ensuring that no collateral damage will be done. Given the location, given how Jinx disregards not only lives of others but also her own. If her psychological profile is to be believed at least, which in all honesty Caitlyn does not. She had dealt with many nutcases but this is beyond anything she had ever had on her hands.

Every crime has a motive. There is no exception. But when that driving force is just a twisted sense of humour and craving for destruction just for the sake of creating chaos. And all of that propelled even further by insanity? How is she to use this knowledge? How is she even to think of a decent trap when one day it's knocking over trash bins and letting the dogs from a shelter loose. Then another it's bombing the town hall and ambushing police convoys, injuring or killing both criminals and police without discrimination. She brought down Piltover's treasury without sparing a thought to the money inside. Then the next day she was shooting pigeons on Tower Clock. With her rocket launcher. Only to later drop by the aforementioned animal shelter, bringing with her stray animals and then never appearing there again.

A pattern of chaos, if such a thing exists. To effectively stall her rampage she would have to send patrols as thick as every square kilometre and she is not in possession of such resources.

Instead she has Vi. Every time Jinx's location is pinpointed she sends her, as good of a plan as she came up with as of yet beside protecting the key points of the city. For whatever reason, the maniac seems to be making a point of deliberately taunting the pinkette. The only truly consistent course of action taken by her as of yet. It both helps and not that the Enforcer lets herself be affected by that. The Sheriff has never seen the other woman so driven, determined.

One could say she is emotionally compromised. One could say it's the only thing that keeps her going at this point. One could also say that it's draining her too much for anyone's benefit.

Everyone would be right.

The problem with Vi is her recklessness, brutality and indeed her passion. While her straightforward approach is what made Caitlyn create an enforcer's position, along with the QRG, it has proven to be... problematic when it comes to that specific criminal.

She needs to make a trap, an ingenious trap that would leave the Loose Canon with no way to run. Only how is she supposed to lay it when her best field officer is also a liability? Who else is to charge in, close the distance and act as a shield for the others?

"Sheriff?" Her fingers twitch, she's got work to do now and can always think on this later.

"Is the entire area vacated?"

"We've already evacuated the complex, neighboring blocks are in-progress."

"Focus on that. Do not follow the Enforcer unless fireworks go off, culprit is far more likely to make for an escape when faced with support. How many fire trucks are on their way?"

"Four."

"Call for more, at least another four. Assign as many people as possible to directing evacuation. Sheriff out."

"Yes Sheriff, Derricks over and out."

She puts the handset down and rubs her eyes. What a wonderful night it has shaped up to be.

* * *

And for some people indeed it has. Until being grandly wrecked by the rumours spreading across the city. Jayce had plans, plans of conquest in a sense. Say what you will about Piltover's social gatherings but once planned, no petty (or first-class) criminal is reason enough to put a hold to them. This very party, that the Defender of Tomorrow is at the moment attending, is in fact a charity ball. To call it off because of possible disturbance in the form of an insane, uncouth and most importantly indecently clad girl would be indeed unthinkable!

Being an important social figure that he is, Futureman- as some fans lovingly call him, could not possibly refuse an invitation. What were to happen if Jinx had decided to attend without him around? The local city hero had to take that into consideration when he pondered upon the options he had. Spending a night at his laboratory, working long hours to eventually pass out on his workbench (altogether not that unpleasant a sleeping place in Jayce's opinion) as he would surely be completely absorbed by his ongoing project (namely- figuring out what to do with literal tons of scrap left in the wake of a certain bluenette's surprise visit). OR. He could let it wait for a day (or two) and enjoy himself tonight. All whilst making sure that his fellow attendants are safe from rude interruptions.

As it stands, the inventor is the one closest to the radio, a troubled frown apparent on his brow.

"It appears that police has closed off the Piltover's fireworks factory and is evacuating the area, the Commissar at the scene advises all citizens to remain in their homes and everyone in a half kilometer radius of cordon to vacate their homes and area in order of speeding up the-" And so it goes on.

Jayce unwraps his arm from his company's and gives her an apologetic smile. His lovely partner for tonight, already gifted with a rose from his tail-coat, now woven into her hairdo. What a pity, alas, duty calls! He turns down the volume on the device, granting himself the attention of everyone gathered.

"I'm sorry to announce that in light of unexpected events, I'm needed elsewhere. Forgive my leave but I can't with clear heart stay while Piltover is in danger."

And with that, sparing only a wink at his would-be night's companion, he marches in the direction of the exit. He makes only a couple of steps before he hears an enthusiastic applause and cheering from behind his back.

Oh yeah.

After turning first corner he breaks off into a run, simply grabbing his hammer from the assistant bot whom he had left in the lounge. He designed it specifically for holding the Mercury Hammer, crafted from non-conductors it's only supposed to turn off the shock mechanism when it sees him approaching. Perfect for parties, He can't really bring himself to leave his pride and joy without supervision. The whole Viktor business has taught him not to. He's also programmed the bot with an autopilot, as to make sure it returns home by itself, quite useful for situations just like this when he doesn't have the time to care about such trivialities as his aide's whereabouts.

Without much care for the questioning looks he gets from the passer-byes, he quickly makes it to his destination. Elevators. He sees one on the verge of closing and throws his weapon forward to hold the door, just in time, as the butt of the hammer slids between the nearly shut wings at the last possible moment.

Jayce picks his weapon up and enters the cabin, immediately noticing the judging stares that an elderly couple and a security officer inside greet him with. He pointedly turns his back to them and presses the ground floor button, trying to maintain as much dignity as he can whilst feeling eyes boring into the back of his skull. He focuses on the closing door in search of a distraction from the unpleasant feeling of being scrutinised.

For a second, he dares to think that it can't get any more awkward, just before the elevator music starts playing.

The moment the cabin comes to a stop and its door opens, he bolts outside, only partially because he is in a hurry.

It has to be a record, the time it takes him to reach the parking lot, he jumps into his car and after a brief search for the keys, takes off to the accompaniment of screeching wheels.

It is a few minutes afterwards that the night sky is suddenly torn apart with hundreds of colourful explosions. Jayce grits his teeth as he helplessly watches the fiery glow appear in the distance. So it's too late for him to save the day, at least five minutes too late. But it matters little, he can still help with further evacuation should the fire spread. If Caitlyn doesn't find anything better for him to-

Is that Vi?

He hits the brakes and backs up a bit.

Yeah it is Vi.

Propped by a wall, bruised, unmoving and profusely bleeding Vi.

Jayce jumps out of his vehicle and runs up to the human-shaped mess as to check for her life signs. He sighs with relief when he finds them. Now, what did his mandatory medical course say about acquiring medical attention for... Well, surely a head wound, and a concussion as a likely follow-up. Burns of first and maybe second degree, countless nicks and bruises forming on most of the available space on the woman's skin.

He wants to take her to the hospital himself, it would be the fastest way but the man doesn't know whether or not he's supposed to move her, as it is possible for her to have suffered internal wounds. He's an inventor, not a doctor. He doesn't know how to act regarding such a case, for this reason he lets Vi lie in peace for the time being, as he hurries off to use the (illegally, as some would argue) modified radiophone installed in his car.

* * *

'Disaster indeed,' Caitlyn thinks as she sweeps her eyes over the mess that the district has become. Factory itself is a goner, depot and production part of the complex are still supplying the night sky's spectacle, while the offices have already halfway crumbled after adding fire to already battered state of the building. What exactly happened she has no idea but that is just one of many questions whirling about in the Sheriff's head.

Where is Vi, is the most prominent of them all.

When the explosion happened, the brunette was almost on site, not an entire minute after that she had already began shouting orders, trying to overcome chaos that had followed the spreading fires. Contain it enough to move into the inferno and confirm Jinx's presence... or rather the lack of thereof.

What weights the most on her mind though is the fact that her enforcer is nowhere to be found. Caitlyn expected her to arrive shortly after she herself had, or at least find her on the factory's grounds, or even get reports of her chasing the criminal somewhere else but not this. Not nothing. For all she knows, the pinkette can be an indistinguishable human fry somewhere on the-

No! Of all her officers, Vi is the one to pull through the life threatening scenarios.

MIA until confirmed otherwise. It's a mantra she keeps repeating to herself in order of keeping her nerves on a leash.

It is then that the radiophone rings again. Wary of what is likely to be yet another bit of bad news, she picks the handle up.

"Sheriff on the line, what is it?"

"Caitlyn?" Jayce? "Good, we need help."

Oh rust and gears, what now? And how has he called this frequency?

"I've found Vi. And she needs an ambulance right now!"

…

"Where?"

* * *

Vigilante Jayce is the best Jayce.


	3. 1 - 3

She feels disoriented and fuzzy as she slowly stirs awake, not quite comprehending where and when she is. After opening her eyes, Vi stares at the dimly lit white ceiling, her brain not yet properly connected with the world. She yawns and winces at the pain it causes her, but finally shakes off the sleep thanks to it. She slowly turns her head around, taking in the surroundings. A hospital room with pristine white walls and a single window showing the darkness outside. There are two more (now empty) beds, three chairs, and a pole with an empty IV bag hanging from it.

Her eyes travel along the line connected to it until they see a needle dug into her arm. She stares at it blankly for a couple of seconds before forcing her tense body to relax. She had been in similar position before and knows that she won't recall what happened to her for at least the next few minutes. She can spend that time more productively. With a quick examination of her body's state for example.

She feels stiff, with slight stinging in her back, aching jaw and right shoulder. She can move all her limbs and fingers though, so nothing to immediately worry over. She looks at the empty IV bag again and grimaces. Stiff body stands for a freakish bruising, stinging for either burns or heavy grazing, aching would be an aftereffect of dislocation. It's probably a bad idea to get up but she tries to anyway, only to give up when she realizes how heavy her body feels in addition to everything else and how she would surely end up on the floor.

Overall, the pinkette feels like shit. Mostly for knowing that she will soon be cut off from the painkillers and that's when the injuries will really kick in.

She puts her left palm over her face and inspects both, one by touch, the other by eyes. The gauntlets must have protected her hands from any damage from elbow to fingertips for she doesn't see any bruising on her skin there. Her face however hasn't come out completely unscathed as just over her left ear she can feel a line of stitches, but where-

Jinx. Fireworks.

Of course, how else could she have landed here. The last time she actually needed hospital treatment had to do with ripping out the handlebar from her motorbike on a joy ride. Or so she suspects, she has no actual memory of the event but the broken part of the rust eaten handle told her enough to figure out the story. Figures that it would be something as uncomplicated as that which would break, since she didn't really care to bother with checking the state of her non-hex related machines. Well, at least before the accident.

Ugh. The next time she gets her hands on Twerp she will... She stops her train of thought as another memory resurfaces in her mind. She drops her hand back onto the bed.

She did regain her consciousness in the sewer system tunnels, if briefly. She was being carried on the maniac's back, it's hazy at best, the recollection of that. And honestly? Vi prefers it that way, it's humiliating enough just knowing she's been beaten by Jinx yet again, having to be recaptured like some damsel in distress is even worse. The less she can recall the better. Huh, since she's here it means the others must have at least fought the bomber off, maybe even cought her. They have both suffered injuries from that blast after all.

"Oh, you're awake already?" The Enforcer turns her head in the direction from which the voice came from, specifically, the door.

"Hammerhead? What in cogs are you doing here?" she asks. From all the people she expected to meet now, Jayce is not one of them. "And what time is it?" And what in the gears is he wearing? What is he, on a date?

"Well, I came here with you, or after you, technically," he begins as he walks over, pulling with him a chair and setting his hammer down by the wall." They wouldn't let me stay in the ambulance with you. After I found you passed out cold on the streets- you can thank me anytime by the way. And it's five... twenty three," he finishes as he pulls out a watch from his pocket, the one that is not only a watch, she had seen him open a locked door with it once, who knows what state he modified it to. "I'm actually surprised you're awake, it has only been a couple of hours."

"What can I say? I'm a tough girl." She tries to laugh and fails miserably as she gets into a fit of hurtful coughing "Okay man no jokes, I can't laugh right now," she cracks a mock smile but her mind is in overdrive. What does he mean he found her? Did Jinx simply drop her off on the street like that? After hauling her ass for... however long it was. What possible reason could she have for that?

What would she need any reason for?

"Sure, we don't want our little Enforcer to hurt herself, do we now?" Oh how Vi wishes she could punch this smarmy smile off his face. "I'm curious though, how did you wind up two clicks from the factory?"

That's the problem, she has no idea. If no one saved her then it means that the Psycho herself must have dropped her off, not to mention carrying her out of the factory after blowing it up.

The factory...

"I got out through the sewer tunnels." Which is basically true, she's not lying and it's not like sparing herself further embarrassment will hurt anyone, along with a one unimportant detail regarding her prey.

"So, judging by the fact that firefighters are still trying to contain the fires, the mission did not go so well?"

"...Yeah no kiddin'. How bad is it?" The man takes a deep breath before saying anything.

"Bad. The factory is done for, there is not a brick left untouched, and the rest of the district is hit too, most of it contained by now but the damage is done. What happened in there?"

"I made a... mistake," and a stupid one at that "it won't happen next time."

"Hm, and Jinx?"

Well she was standing right next to her when the terrorist blew that depot up so...

"Better off than I, not by much I'd say, but we should have a couple days of peace from her."

"I'm sure Caitlyn will be delighted to hear that. If you heard what they say on the radio- ...gears I need to bring you a radio, it's a shit storm. The factory owner is 'outraged', and many people lost their houses because of the fires. I don't think she could deal with this and another attack like that at the same time. She's covering your ass as much as she can from what I hear, but you're in for it after you get out."

They both fall into silence after that.

Well, that's after she gets out of here, no point in worrying over this stuff now.

"Hey Futureboy, you been here this whole time?" She speaks up, trying to steer their conversation towards a different topic.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I have, Caitlyn asked me to."

"Caitlyn asked you huh?" she replies with a shit eating grin, forcedly ignoring the aching muscles.

"Well yes she- oh no we are not going there again! I- no!"

Let the worries wait for now. Vi will deal with them when they rear their ugly head.

* * *

She feels drained and in pain as she applies yet another plaster onto yet another cut. It took her some time to wash off the blood and grime she was covered in after tonight's escapade. Unfortunately for Jinx, the adrenaline rush she was running on for the entire fight, and later escape, ended some time after she hauled Fatass out of the sewers. It has left the Loose Cannon to experience all of her wounds in full. Spent, hurt, but still feeling blissfully accomplished, she's returned to her hideout in the harbor district, to an abandoned clock tower workshop at the top of the construction. She found it walled when first she came here and naturally couldn't help herself but blow the blocked entrance up. There is actually another workshop in the tower but it's located on the ground floor, some sixty meters below her. Funny how noone ever bothers to go above the clock itself.

The workshop consists of three rooms total, a functional bathroom of which sink she's modified to supply water for a shower, the workroom with a window, through which one can see Piltover's town hall. It is also fitted with a worktable, along with a couple of shelves for various tools. And last but not least, a little storeroom where she keeps the bombs she's made as well as the supplies she's stolen, the girl has also fitted the room with a mattress, not willing to breath in the chemicals she works with but a room away. Well, not so much of them anyway, they're still quite smellable.

For the moment, the bluenette administrates whatever medical attention she is capable of to herself. Which is to say whatever painkillers she's found in her hideout. The girl's wounds are mostly superficial but beside various nicks and bruises, she got her back and legs burnt in that first explosion. Luckily she didn't break nor dislocate anything, finding a doctor to bully into treating her is always a bother, and dealing with them is even worse. Right now she stands naked in front of her mirror and grimaces as she wipes another wound with an antiseptic to plaster it afterward.

The biggest bitch of it all are the burns, which she has to first clean up and apply balm to soothe the pain, and only then can she bandage them. Which means she has both her legs and the entire torso wrapped up, she laughed when she'd first seen it but her lungs hurt, quickly coercing her to stop. Still, the maniac smirks in amusement when she looks over herself and compares the image to a mummy.

She sticks the last plaster to her forehead and takes a step back to admire her handiwork.

She looks ridiculous.

Literally covered in band aids, maybe she should have just had a go at it and made a proper mummy out of herself. Whatever. She tried cleaning her scalp but eventually decided not to mess with the hair, lest she'd have to wait some more hours to bandage herself up without having all her work ruined by water. For now, she gathers up the mess on her head into an untidy ponytail and just decides to deal with it next night when she wakes up. She has to braid her hair at the first occasion unless she wants to trip over it all the time, since when loose, the bluenette's hair sweeps the floor behind her.

Jinx rolls her shoulders, and intent on ignoring the pain her whole body is causing her, walks to the workroom where she's left her weapons on the table. She leans on the window and looks over the city. Specifically, the fire's glow in the distance. The girl grins at the memory of the fireworks painting the night sky, as sadly- not much but memory is left of the spectacle by now, the red of the fire slowly giving to the red of the rising Sun. She looks over to the table upon which she discarded her ruined clothes, singed and torn, of no further use beyond scraping them for belts. She then notices the staring.

"What is it Fishbones?"

"I just want to ask, how are you feeling?"

She turns back to look outside the window again. How is she feeling? Beside the pain and exhaustion she's actually feeling great. Maybe her plan did not go without a hitch but meh, details, it's not like she wasted a lot of time devising it, maybe couple seconds. Tops. She hadn't even had a plan to go to that factory when she first went for a stroll on Piltover's rooftops to stretch her legs this evening. It just kinda happened. Huh, now that she thinks about it, she hasn't gotten an opportunity to eat anything since... like a night before that. Whatever, she doesn't feel like eating anything. It's not important anyway, what is, is that she got to play with Fathands tonight. She hoped that Pinktard would arrive when she first set out on her trip this night, and was not disappointed, that idiot is reliable like that, whenever Jinx starts stirring up trouble, Vi will always be there to join the fun.

She feels a bit uncomfortable at the memory of Her being in the state she was in. Beaten, unmoving, bleeding, burnt. It wasn't supposed to go like that, they were to witness the explosion of the working hall and then she would think of something on the fly. Yeah, sure she wired up the warehouse but outside of knowing that she wanted to blow it up, the Loose Cannon had no idea when or how would she do it. But again, details. She had a great time in the end.

And yet, the stirring in her stomach does not go away.

"Great, my back's killing me but- heh, I got off better than Fats."

Her friend stays silent for a moment.

"I think you're worrying about Vi." Jinx attention snaps solely to him and she whirls around, hands crossed.

"Fishbones, what did I tell you about trying to psychoanalyze me?" she growls at him, annoyed that, again, he's starting their ages old squabble.

"Erm... I'm never letting you drag me to the doctor again? But it doesn't-"

"But nothing, shut up. Can't you bother Pow-Pow for once?"

"He's mute Jinx, and you're avoiding the question. Are you worried about her?" She really needs to replace this piece of junk one day, the nerve on him! Bothering her with all that stuff until she starts talking.

"Why would I be? We're one upping the other every night, what's the point? She can take care of herself."

"Is that why you carried her out from the fire back there?" Oh c'mon.

"That's entirely different and you know it! Fats was unconscious! She'd burn there and who would I play with then? Hat Lady?" Yeah... thanks, but no thanks.

"And her gauntlets? You made it entirely too hard for yourself, carrying all of them at once. You wouldn't do that for anyone else."

"And how'd she chase me without them? Dumb ass."

"Or maybe you just didn't want her to lose them? Because you know how would you feel if you lost me?"

"Ugr I'd frolic around in joy," she murmurs angrily. "I need 'er to have 'em. End of the story."

"So tell me why did you wait on the roof until someone found her?"

"Fishbones! If you don't shut up I'll do to you what I wanted to do with that oversized potato masher in Snore-Lair." Only wanted to... she got electrocuted when she touched it. The rocket launcher remains quiet after the last remark.

Well that silenced him pretty quickly.

She gives her nosy friend one last glare and walks out of the room, feeling spent and sleepy, she takes her steps toward the mattress and carefully lies down. Wincing and grinding her teeth in pain, she finally finds a fairly not-uncomfortable position on her side and lets her mind drift off to sleep.

The heaviness in her chest does not go away.

* * *

I had fun writing this one, do say what you think.


	4. 1 - 4

It is nearing evening as Vi looks over the city landscape out of her room's window. She managed to stand up sometime in the afternoon when the drip's effects wore off and her body first noticed how much pain it is really in. Which is surprisingly not too bad, when she doesn't move too much anyway. Burns are a bitch but the rest of her injuries? She's way too used to those to give them her attention. Instead she focuses on the sound of the radio- that true to his word, Jayce's brought her. As soon as he went on his way the Enforcer checked it for bugs that the inventor has in fact been installing in all of his devices ("Who knows when they can come in handy? I don't want my babies stolen."), not that she suspects he'd spy on her as much as he might have simply forgotten. But it seems it is just a hospital issued radio, in no way modified.

Seriously. He sometimes treats his tech better than people, and is almost as overprotective of it as Vi is of her gauntlets. The absence of which she noticed only after completely regaining her senses. Which in consequence caused her a minor (in her opinion at least) freakout. Doctors didnt't want them in her room for some reason (some or other rule about them being weapons) but thankfully, Futureboy came through and convinced them to make an exception. It's funny that they didn't argue when he brought in his hammer. Freaking celebrities. What was it that he said... something about the gauntlets providing her mental comfort and safety. Really it's not as much having them close as knowing where exactly are they. She does take them off at home, honest! Cupcake used to nag her with the topic but eventually gave up.

Wearing them to a grocery store has a perfectly valid explanation, who knows if there won't be a thief ripe for punching at the exact moment she's there.

But again, it's not as much having them around as knowing where they are. Preferably on her hands, if that is impossible then Vi prefers them in the room she resides in. Third best place is her house, she can leave them there and not feel (too) apprehensive about it. She's done it before, for a whole week even! When told to do so on her mandatory therapy session that every member of the Force has to go through.

So there!

Jayce was right though, about this whole psycho junk. She does indeed feel more relaxed and calm since her babies came back to her. Who knows what could happen to them, all alone in some rusted locker or other such abysmal place, what if some idiot were to touch them, smear something over them... and then wash them with organic cleaner or-

Vi shudders. What if someone put them on. She will never know and it bugs her to no end. At least they are safe now. Residing on the floor by her hospital bed.

She has got bigger problem anyway. The pinkette turns her eyes towards the two envelopes lying oh so innocently on a nightstand by the bed. One fat and giving off an evil vibe, the second looking like a normal letter. She's been visited earlier by some of her co-workers, they had little time to chat though, they came here mostly to check up on her and to deliver a message from Caitlyn. They left roughly twenty minutes ago and she has yet to touch her mail. The pinkette clicks her tongue and stiffly moves to sit on the bed. The doctors say she should stay in bed and while it would indeed spare her some pain and maybe she would even heal faster, it doesn't matter to Vi. She despises just lying here, doing nothing. It feels stuffy and dirty, tiring too. While the Enforcer enjoys the possibility of undisturbed rest, there is only so much time she can actually spend sleeping. So it's either tossing in bed, rumpling sheets or... well anything else. She visited children's ward for one. They do that sometimes. The police (Jayce too) to cheer the kids up. And predictively enough- they were elated, Vi was literally attacked with questions, mostly about her wounds and the fight itself. Their minds still too young to properly grasp the grim situation their city is in.

When Cait kicked the project off she said that it's good to remind oneself why they put up with the shit they deal with on daily basis (not exactly her words). And while Vi doesn't need any encouragement to beat anyone up, seeing the adoration in eyes of those kids does lift her spirits. This idea of Sheriff's works both ways she supposes, and more than likely it was Cupcake's point all along.

With a sigh, she reaches out and grabs the slimmer envelope, staring it down for a couple of seconds before tearing the paper open and pulling out two sheets. After quickly sweeping both she puts away the formal and starts with the private one.

_Vi_

_Let me begin by apologising for not coming in person. The factory fiasco leaves me with little time to spare and as such I am unlikely to visit you for at least a couple of days, I hope you understand ('_Of course she does'_). Also, You have left an amount of unfinished paperwork that I truly am reluctant to burden someone else with ('_Oh no'_), given the numbers figuring on many of its pages ('_Please no'_). Because of all this I find myself forced to send it to you with a request of finishing it ('_She has to be shitting her!'_)._

_Onto another matter, I have received the results of your examination and after reviewing them, I am am forced to send you on a medical leave for the period of two weeks counting from today ('_Ugh_'). I have also spoken with Jayce and he relied the outcome of your encounter with Jinx to me, it is unlikely for her to be capable of causing any real trouble any time soon and this might be exactly what we need to reign in the chaos in the city as well as expand our search for her, without having to worry about another attack at the same time. This may sound a bit too optimistic but is nonetheless true ('_Vi smiles at that'_). It is also the content of the statement I have forwarded to the press, come tomorrow you should expect reporters ('_It's just cruel of Cupcake to bait her with good news and then drop a brick on Vi's head_')._

_I can not say that I am completely happy with the results of your actions but neither can I condemn them, Jinx being caught in the blast radius along with you is the closest we have gotten to catching her since all of this began ('_Only it was an accident on Jinx's part, not Vi's actions_'). I need full detail on the incident, which is what you are to use the attached form for._

_I would like you to finish your assignment by the time I come to visit ('_Well Cait's gonna be disappointed beause Vi don't have anything to write with_'). Get better soon._

_Caitlyn_

_PS. Your pen is in the second envelope, no excuses ('_...shit.'_)._

_PPS. Do please ready yourself for the journalists. I mean it._

.

Vi puts the letter away and gives the fat menace of paper on the nightstand a dejected look.

"Alright then Cupcake... lets get this over with."

She only manages to finish her report by the time she falls asleep.

* * *

"C'mon, don't make it harder than it has to be." complains Jinx as she taps the apothecary's head with Zap. The man trembles in fear and finally gives her a shaky nod. The girl sniffs.

Stupid, dumb fever.

She makes sure that the man in front of her doesn't try anything while he's gathering a stock of supplies she listed to him a minute ago. The idiot of course had to try and run, the bluenette is not in a very good mood, and fortunately for him too, as she would probably decide to kill him for being an annoying twat, were she inclined to look for another pharmacy. They are never fun, normal people, if they AT LEAST tried to fight her instead of running right away. She doesn't even have Pow-Pow nor Fishbones with her, well right, yeah. Zap can kill too if it hits an eye or open mouth or what-have-you not covered by skin but Jinx is in no shape to aim properly. And it's obvious too, isn't this guy supposed to have a medical or something? Hm, maybe it's only like that in Zaun, nobody would hire an idiot like that there.

"There you go miss," the man says weakly as he places a bag she gave him before on the counter. It's stuffed to the brink with syringes, pills, bandages, plasters and cough syrups. She doesn't actually need any syrup, she drinks it because she likes the taste. She had read its leaflet once, said it's somehow unhealthy- who cares. But most important of the the things in the bag are the drops.

"Thank you," she replies in sickeningly sweet tone. "Now stay still." His eyes widen but he complies.

No fun at all.

She hits his head with Zap's grip, knocking him right out. Sheesh, now that that's dealt with...

She grabs the pack and throws it on her back. The maniac feels strange with so many clothes on her person but she doesn't want to injure herself any further, and to that end bears with the violet hoodie protecting her back. Come evening she woke up, and to her annoyance found herself running a fever. Along with the fact that she barely had enough bandages to re-wrap herself after a properly cold shower (Both unpleasantly mind freezing and so very soothing to her burned skin), and that her regular drugs stash had nothing to rid her of stuffed nose. Something she's unwilling to put up with. She can bear the pain and dizziness, stinging is a near constant in her life given how her eyes tend to do that at least half the time. Bones, skin, eyes, nails, yeah she can roll with that.

Stuffy nose is a no-no.

So here she is, climbing onto the roof of the building in which the drug store happens to be located in. Blowing air through her nose every now and then in vain attempts to breathe through it, frustrating, is what her body is, it never feels quite right and getting sick is much, much worse. When she finally gets out onto the rooftop she squats down on it and slowly lies on her back, taking care not to upset it. She rummages through the bag for a moment, fishes out the drops and quickly doses them, overdoses them really.

She taps her foot impatiently as she waits for the liquid to take its effect. Seriously, how did this even happen? It's not like she hadn't been beaten up like this before. Or never been a bit starved (or both at the same time), she took take vitamins yesterday didn't she? Urgh, doesn't matter. She sits back up when the blissful feeling of air flowing through her nostrils sets in. Her hand dives into the bag again, this time- pulling out a candy-bar. This continues for another couple of minutes as she eats one after another. Finally, sitting herself on the edge of the rooftop to finish the last one she think on what to do now.

As frustrating as it is, she can't blow stuff up in her current state. She can hardly aim, her hands shake so. And dragging Fishbones around is not even an option. Climbing the stairs to her hideout is always a chore to do, now even more so than usual. So heavy lifting materials for new bombs is also a no-go. Boring. She can't play cops either, besides. Fats is in hospital, it's not nearly as fun without her.

There it is, that bothersome heaviness somewhere in her chest. It comes back every time she thinks about that moron and refuses to go away until she gets otherwise distracted, which is not at all long but still. She doesn't like it. It makes her feel weaker and she loathes that, especially given how weakened she already knows herself to be. Not that she cares about that, a little fever is a pest but nothing to shoot her down. She's just a little bit dizzy and uncoordinated. No biggie.

Which again makes her wonder how is her favourite officer faring.

"Ugh!"

This is dumb! Why do these thoughts even come to her? They never have before, she and Fathands have been beating the crap out of each other ever since Jinx first set foot in this city. Oh yeah, she does like playing with Vi, a lot, so it is with anticipation that she awaites the chase every time she causes trouble. Always hoping she will come, and she always does. It's more than enough. So why (she bits down on her lip, holding back a giggle) is it that she suddenly wants to see her. Why is she even thinking about this in the first place! She only thinks things through when in deep! Just go where her legs carry her by the spur of the moment. That would be like her, to just do what she wants, who needs more of a reason to do anything?

There is what she should do! She wants to see Pinktard, so why in the cogs not?

Because she never wants to see people unless to toy with them.

So what?

This is stupid.

Exactly, she should stop moping and go find her!

Moping? She's not moping...

Yeah sure, whatever. She must get her ass in gear and move it.

Jinx grumbles, but does what she's told. The girl grabs her bag and looks down upon the street below her feet, just in time to see a police car pulling over, the store owner must have woken up in the while she's been sitting here. Well then, no time to laze around. She needs to find her Enforcer! A thought hits her as she is preparing to make the first jump onto another roof.

There are three hospitals in Piltover.

Each with hundreds of rooms.

Each one might be the one she's looking for.

"Ugh..."

* * *

Who needs friends with you when they're always with you?


	5. 1 - 5

She has never visited a Piltovian hospital before. They are oh so very different from what she got used to in Zaun. So... neat and clean and white, pale lime occasionally but bleh, so boring. And the orderlies are very different too, no stun guns nor handcuffs on them, they're not exactly big either. Jinx remembers that they were always beasts in human shapes, two meters tall mountains of muscle- and meanies to boot, that's how they ought to look, not like yordles, what sane person hires them as hospital staff? Now, she knows they are fluffy and bumbly along with cute but still. Yordles. She can lift one without any trouble (well, usually, not now) and that kind of contradicts the entire point of having them around.

Then again, she's not good at this logic stuff so maybe there is some merit to having them litter the area. The girl pushes the subject out of her head before it starts hurting as it is prone to doing. She looks around the lobby not really knowing where to go from now-on. It's... an unfamiliar feeling to just walk in somewhere and not be immediately recognized. Right, yeah, it's nighttime and no one is paying her much attention in the new outfit but really. It seems that a hood does make all the difference, as it conceals her unusual hair, now stashed under the hoodie and from the looks of it- that's all she needs to do, she always thought it stupid how Noxians wear hoods to remain inconspicuous but what does she know. Master assassins nailed it when thinking up the idea. Alternatively, it could be the fact that the security officer is reading a newspaper, she has no clue to be honest. But it's so strange! Not one person doing a double take at her sight and running away in terror right after.

Or maybe it's her wanted posters, they're sooo inaccurate, she's much prettier than what they show, what are they. Trying to insult her?

Whatever the reason, it's advantageous for now. She only has Zap with her and it's stashed inside the backpack, long-ass way from her hands. But it being one of her trademark weapons she can't exactly parade it around in her current condition, that condition being lack of her other friends strapped to her many (many) belts. And her legs are killing her too, but it can be taken into consideration later, it's not like she can't function at 100% or above, it's just that the side effects are usually not worth it. But she knows her body won't fail her as long as she needs it to work and knows that it will take something more than jumping roofs for the aftereffects to kick in. Like a chase, she won't risk being chased now.

To that end, she probably shouldn't just stand in the middle of the hall and look like a lost puppy, lest someone asks her- "what seems to be the problem?" Ugh, although... heh, yeah no. That wouldn't go over too well.

Priorities girl! Keep them straight!

She can't help but let out an amused snort at that thought, keep her thoughts straight, priceless.

Seriously- focus, just... walk, yeah, walk, somewhere. Anywhere is good as long as she walks, no one will pay her any attention as long as she's walking right? Exactly!

As Jinx strolls through the building she soon deduces that the place is completely backwards, the doors aren't locked, there are no bars anywhere and the whole place is entirely too bright. She would know, she spent... she doesn't actually know how long had she been treated before breaking out, as the time meant little in the gray walls of that tedious place, but she thinks it was long. She remembers her hair reaching no further than her bum when she didn't bother to braid it. As she later learned, hair grows rather slowly, it was probably years but the idea of time baffles her, she can't really tell how long is long, long is boring though, that much she knows.

As is silence, and it's so silent too! No screeching, no howling, no whispering, just unnerving unnormal silence. Back at home she can at least hear the distant noise made by the clock's machinery, background noise is everywhere in the city, here? Only electricity burning in light bulbs.

She doesn't like it, the sooner she finds Pinktard the better. She quickly discovers that there is no use in checking door after door (The cells are wrong too! All hard surfaces and actual furniture!).

The resolution to that particular problem hits her when her eyes land on the words painted on the wall. It takes a moment, but with some effort, she manages to put the letters together into a sentence.

**MATERNITY WARD**

…

...yeah she probably should have tried to read the caustic thing earlier. It would also be a good idea to only check the wards where her Enforcer can (probably) be, that's a smart thing to do, and since she is a smart person that leaves her with only one option.

**PERSONNEL ONLY**

This looks promising. People sure love their restrictions, and for good reason! She loves restrictions too, wherever she finds them they always mean something interesting is behind the doors, figuratively or literally, as is the case now. Besides, rules are in place only to cause the itch to break them, and it's so fun!

Sure, walking through door may not seem like much, but she can't help feeling smug about it.

Only it has a lock, locks are evil, she's always known it, as far as her memory reaches. Thankfully, Fishbones is an expert at opening them, then again, he's not here- bummer. It poses a question that normally she never needs to bother herself with. How is she supposed to get through? She grabs the handle and gives it a couple experimental pulls, yup, undamaged.

"Just my luck isn't it?" She grins as she says that, it's a pity no one ever laughs at her jokes, mostly because people don't listen to them, and her friends don't seem to find them funny, they're always so serious. Well maybe Pow-Pow would but he's mute, he makes for a great listener though.

Alright then, keys, she needs to find keys. Who has them though? This place is big, like big big. The security officer at the entrance might, but his absence would be noticed rather quickly since she can't just leave him unconscious or dead at his post, and how would she move the body without anyone seeing anyway? It's not busy but it's not so late into night that people aren't walking through hallways. What a drag. Who else keeps keys on their person? The girl growls as she feels a headache building up, it's a curse. The more she thinks the more painful it becomes, the more painful it is the harder thinking becomes, so she must focus even more which leads to even worse pain and it goes on and on like that.

She is brought out of her reverie when she hears a creaking further down the hallway. Red eyes snap to the source and dilate in excitement as they land upon a cleaning cart being pushed by an old lady. The cart stops as the woman notices the intense stare directed upon her.

"Is there something wrong miss?" she asks, mildly uncomfortable but clearly trying to be helpful. How very nice of her.

Jinx's smile turns into her trademark maniacal grin.

"Nah, it's just my luck." Her voice pitches upwards, as it tends to when she's in good mood. The lady is clearly taken aback by it and when Jinx starts moving towards her she nervously looks around, like a deer (if Jinx's old books are to be believed), not knowing where the danger is coming from nor how. Like an old and slow deer too. She releases the cart's handle and takes a shaky step back.

"Aw but why are you running? Wanna play tag?" The bluenette's voice has now taken another note, low and raspy, one of displeasure and underlying anger. "Because I've got things to do and you're stalling." The woman turns around and tries to run and scream for help but is not nearly fast enough. Jinx rams into her and they both fall, the maniac on top, she is ready to pummel the woman's head into tiles when she notices no resistance on her part. The criminal frowns as she closer inspects her victim's face.

She's fainted, huh. Heh, hehehe, her heart just ain't what it used to be huh? Let me tell you, back in the day- hah! Lucky her, there is no fun in beating up the unconscious, she looks for reaction from her victims and there is none to be expected from this one it seems. Oh well. She unceremoniously lets the head drop onto hard floor, undoubtedly leaving a bruise.

Jinx looks around to assure herself no one saw them. Nope. Clear. She shifts to kneel beside the body, wincing at the stinging in her back, it's not bad, not really. Just a bit worse than a harsh case of sunburn, she got sunburned exactly once in her life. When she first encountered the Sun and didn't yet know how nasty it can be. It's a lying bastard, luring her with promise of warmth only to burn should she happen to accept it.

"Let's see... let's- oh hello sweetie, nice of you to show up." She chirps as she finds the keychain. Ugh, there are so many of them, well better find the right one before someone comes. She takes hold of the cleaning lady's collar and drags her beside the door where she first saw her.

"Okay... not this one, not this one, ugh, nope, not you, nor you... hey lady, which one opens this lock?" she turns to the prone body beside her and waits a few seconds to no effect. Irked, she starts trying different keys anew "Well that's just rude, I'll have to tie you up you know? Since you're not really cooperating, I mean okay yeah sure you helped, so I'm not gonna do anything real nasty to you but could you be a little bit less apathetic you know? I'm just trying to find miss Fatass to... to- whatever! And you. Are not. Helping!" The last few words come out as a snarl and she kicks the woman in her side to vent her frustration. It's a good outlet she has learned, for headaches, pain and anger. It's like she gives her own to others since they are always angry or hurt after playing for a bit. She spends the next minute fuming, silently trying different keys until she gets the right one and her mood lifts yet again, uncaring for the trouble the nasty old lady put her through.

She drags her victim inside and pulls the cart in right after before closing the door and flipping on the light.

"Ka-ching!" her eyes sparkle with mirth as she sees a wall full of drawers, she gives the lock a sideways glance and sticks the key into it as to avoid interruption. Next in order, time to properly tie her shabby company up, she has no rope though and definitely won't use her precious belts, no way! So she sits herself down, legs crossed, in front of her and rips a couple of strands from her skirt to tie her hands and legs up. Three simple knots atop each other should do the trick, Jinx finds them to be the biggest pain in the ass to unknot, as with them- the problem is to find the right strand and then to somehow grab it, which while not overly complicated, is still hard to do. She makes her knots tight as they get. The last scrap she rolls into a ball and stuffs it into the woman's mouth. Now unto business.

She opens the first drawer and her eyes widen at the sight of dozens of medical charts, complete with photos and case info. Well, this will do nicely in speeding things up.

She quickly discovers that entries are arranged by date which leaves her with much less garbage to skim through. Unfortunately she doesn't find what she's looking for and is again forced to kick the cleaning lady on her way out of the room, just for good measure. She locks the door shut and sighs, it's faster, but still boring and she has yet to find Vi. She turns in a random direction to search for another such room when her eyes land on the wall's inscription.

**MATERNITY WARD**

Oh wait yeah that's right! She completely forgot about that little detail, Fats must be somewhere in the emergency ward. She was pretty beat up after all, must have scored a concussion at least. Does that qualify her for emergency? Do burns or dislocated bones do?

Probably. And if not then well too bad, she's not gonna waste a whole night searching for her, if she's not there then Jinx refuses to bother herself with looking any further.

* * *

She ends up checking three more departments before grudgingly going to the second hospital on her list. She wrapped the first one up in just under one hour and still has a lot of time, hopefully. She has no way of knowing when will that old lady wake up, or rather when will someone find her. It is a chore and she hates chores. She's never telling Fishbones. He will laugh his bony ass off if he knew what she went through just to see Pinktard. Stealth is not really her thing and snatching keys from the janitor was something she would have rather avoided. But following him somewhere secluded would have been even worse.

She is now skimming through the folders that should contain Vi's file if she's here. Which with elation flooding her whole body turns out to be the case.

Jinx triumphantly picks the folder up and her eyes land on top of the page. She does a double take and makes sure that it's surely her photo before once again looking at the name.

She manages to hold her laughter in for a whole second, making a few unidentified sounds before giving up and falling flat on her back, giving no mind to the pain it causes her as she simply can't hold back the maniacal mirth. This is just too precious. It takes her full two minutes before she starts coughing and she forces herself to stop her cackling, lest someone hears her. She lets the last couple amused snorts escape her before managing to stand back up, feeling light headed and definitely in better mood than when she came in. She checks which room Fatshands resides in before putting the folder back in its place, probably in its place. Wow, she never would have guessed that just one word could make this whole trip worth it.

Vi! Vicious! Violence! Hah! Look at me I have a badass name. Oh she won't ever let this one pass.

She slips out of the room and locks it before dropping the keychain on the floor. No more need for it, maybe the janitor won't think it was stolen, maybe not. Who cares.

She rolls her shoulders when she finally stops before the door behind which Vi should sleep. Hopefully, she would very much prefer her to be asleep as she doesn't exactly know what is she here for anyway. Without further delay she enters the room and immediately sees her.

Victory! Hah. No really she needs to start carrying a notebook to write these down.

She's unruly as ever, even in her sleep. Jinx closes the distance and stands beside her bed, finding herself staring. Well, she's no picture of sophistication and frankly she expected no less of her. Messy hair, open mouth, body in position she can't acutely describe other than 'this can't possibly be comfortable'. Well at least she's not snoring. She somehow though Vi the type to do, no particular reason, it's not like she's imagining her sleeping. Often.

She's not sure how long she stands there, simply looking- content with knowledge that Vi will be up and kicking in no time, before the memory of Pinktard's full name resurfaces in her mind and she turns away clasping both hands over her mouth to stifle her giggling.

She bites down on her chapped lip when she calms down and gives her Enforcer a once-over, she doesn't look bad, considering. Bruises everywhere but nothing the file didn't mention. Hm, now what? It's not like she came here with anything concrete in mind. She looks around and grins as her eyes land on a piece of paper and pen, both lying on Fathands's nightstand.

* * *

It is with a groan and more than a couple of curses that Vi awakes, the first thing she sees being a mountain of paperwork waiting to be filled. She gets up to go through her morning routine when her eyes land on the report she worked on last evening. One sentence underneath it all that she is sure was not there before.

She picks the card up and pales.

_Mornin viOlet, dRopt by 2 say hi but yOu wer slepiN._

_X_

* * *

Yeah! Full Jinx chapter.

Used to be me and Miss Chocolat updated our stories around the same time. Alas, all that is good will some day pass.


	6. 1 - 6

It takes a few seconds for Vi's mind to start working again. She looks around the room- assessing its state to find it undisturbed, her gauntlets still lie under the bed and it floods her chest with relief, she has half expected them to be missing. Then again, Jinx had a chance to steal them before and didn't take it, whatever the reason may be. Again she looks at the message left behind by the maniac and only now does she note the weirdly written capital letters arranging into a word. The criminal is clearly not bothered by subtlety nor sophistication, that's for sure.

**MORON**

She feels heat flooding her face, that tramp... it's one thing to taunt her during a fight, but to sneak her skinny ass into a hospital only to take a jab at her is just... creepy. Even more so as she seems to have gotten a hold of her full name. The Enforcer scowls, there are precious few who know it, Cait by default, Jayce by accident- but him she doesn't mind knowing, plus an Ex she doesn't keep in touch with anymore. And now she can add a crazy murderer to that list. Wonderful.

She picks her gauntlets up to inspect them for any damage only to find nothing, it's baffling. Jinx was here, right in this room just beside her and all she did was harass her through her terrible penmanship (and it is terrible), if Vi wrote her reports like this, Cupcake would be throwing a fit, it's barely legible, croocked letters written with a clearly unsteady hand, looking alike a child's writing in how the letters resemble primary school's practice script, only lacking its clarity. Vi only notices the Zaunite spelling after reading it three times. The pinkette bits her lip as she wonders what to do with her "present". Should she show it to her boss? Of course she should, only what would it really change beside showing that their nemesis had randomly decided to visit Vi for seemingly no reason at all. How would that reflect upon herself? The most wanted criminal in Piltover just dropping by and doing absolutely nothing to her? She knows Caitlyn trusts her, and would see the event as of no consequence since Jinx does not act rationally, but would the rest of the city see it the same way? She was a criminal too once and that fact shadows her to this very day, even if no one says it to her face, not any longer at least.

No, in the end it changes nothing, nobody needs to know. Now to get rid of the evidence. She wonders if the girl used her finished report on purpose or had not even cared for its content. Both are equally possible, but the effect is still the same- wasted time, she hates paperwork with passion, she knows of its necessity but that doesn't make it any less tedious. And now she has to ruin her own work. Great. Not that she wouldn't have to write a new report, this one would go straight into Jinx's case file as evidence. Cait's gonna be pissed if she doesn't have this finished though so she has to rewrite the whole thing... and get a new pen since she will need to destroy the one she got to make it look believable, she can't just say she lost it, that would just make her look stupid, she needs to snap the pen or spill the ink over the note. And in a way that looks random too, does this place have a shop for patients? Hospitals usually do, with little things like snacks and writing accessories.

First things first. She puts the tip of the pen a couple sentences above the finish and pressures it enough for it to snap, creating a giant blot over the words and at the same time covering Jinx's note. She gives the broken tool a dejected look before putting it away, it was a nice pen, she will have to buy a new one since it isn't hers. She couldn't just spill the damn thing without breaking it either, wouldn't look much of an accident. She glances down at the hospital gown she's wearing as she feels moisture on her stomach, another ink stain. Ugh. She grabs a towel from the nightstand and tries to soak the offending mess away. Only halfway successful, she throws the towel away to see that she's managed to dirty her hands too, thoroughly annoyed she gives up and just wipes them on the ruined gown. Maybe she will get to wear something normal, since one of her fellow officers, Leeroy, promised to bring some of her clothing today, she left the keys to her apartment in the car, which is now in department's garage. Regardless, she still needs to get a new pen, or pencil maybe, though the Sheriff doesn't like using pencils in work. Easier to fabricate she says, seriously.

Wait. She doesn't have her wallet on her. Oh that's just brilliant thinking from her. She sighs, can she confiscate one as an officer? Yeah that wouldn't look stupid at all, confiscate a pen... oh well, she will just have to resort to her old pastime and simply lift it, granted, she always was more of a burglar than pickpocket but stealing from shops is pathetically easy, and she means things bigger and heavier than something pen sized. Like drillers and the like. It hits her that she must leave her gauntlets or she will be stared at, and they may be taken away if she parades in them around the building. She doesn't like it but she's a logical creature and besides, it's not like anything will happen to them in a couple minutes of her absence, hopefully. No big deal, she can leave them here, she can just walk out the room without them on, just like anyone else would, no problem. Just- just go damn it!

Finally she manages to close the door behind her, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach, she only needs to make it quick and get back before... just be quick about her business is what she needs to be.

It is a simple matter of waiting for the right moment when the vendor is distracted, to enter after someone, interest in groups is lesser than in individuals, feign interest in browsed items, and not act like she's trying to decide what to buy, confidence is not shifty and doesn't attract attention, then wait for the shopkeeper to be addressed by someone and just take the item without looking around, no one pays attention unless the thief herself attracts it. Having baggy clothes is helpful but since she is not in their possession and really, they're not necessary for a pen, she can just take the damn thing and quickly press it to the inside of her wrist with a finger then walk out while the vendor is still counting change.

Easy, Vi used to team up with other street rats to pull off bigger lifts in bigger shops when she first came to Piltover, take the item down the shelf, pass it to your partner so that whomever may be (though probably isn't) watching focuses on it and meanwhile hide another one in the jacket, put away the first one and pick something else, something looking to be in your price range, then make whomever it is that does not carry the loot actually pay for the decoy stuff, or not, kids do like to browse after all. Who knows, maybe they will bring their parents (and their wallets) with them later. All in all, boring. Just look presentable enough not to be recognized a rat.

Burglary is so much more entertaining than that.

Still, she is a proper police officer and theft is something she fights, not actively indulges herself in, emergencies only.

Did she leave the door ajar? Shit, her babies!

She throws the door open, ready to tackle the thief- and to her surprise finds Caitlyn inside. The Sheriff is sitting on her bed and seems to be in the middle of reading whatever is left of her report. There is also a bundle of clothes crowned by Vi's wallet and a bag of sanitary items to her side. Huh, she must have taken it from Leeroy. The older woman's eyes snap to her and roll at the sight of the stain marring Vi's gown. She stands up to allow Vi back on the bed. It takes a second before the pinkette realizes she is expected to speak first.

"Hey Cupcake! Thought you were still brooding over collateral?" She flashes a genuine smile, both at the fact that her friend is here and that her joke is not terribly bad.

"Hello to you too Vi, it's good to see you on your legs," her boss responds, apparently deciding to ignore Vi's halfhearted jest. "I see you took my request to heart," she waves the paper sheet a little. "hospital does you good it seems, a bit overzealous maybe but at least you had it written, it's nice to be proven you're actually capable of meeting deadline." The Enforcer's smile vanishes as her boss's smirk becomes evident. Oh she's fucked, she will need to meet deadlines before actual deadlines for a month or two before Cait gives it a rest.

"Yeah, well must be something in the air, stale antiseptics maybe."

"Maybe." She begins folding the document in her hand into something as Vi sits herself on the bed, glad that she ruined her report when she did and not ten minutes after, they both know her report to be useless now and the brunette likes to keep her hands busy, it's something Vi noticed in mere days after she joining The Force. Caitlyn dislikes staying idle, be it hands or mind she prefers to keep herself busy, on lazy days when she finishes paperwork early she will just take a clean card and make origami, more or less detailed depending on her mood. On patrols she will keep caressing her rifle in such a way that Vi actually used to fell somewhat jealous of the weapon. Which is funny considering, she was lonely perhaps, being an outcast in both the criminal underworld and in the eyes of law made it rather hard to maintain healthy social life.

It's no longer an issue though, she has friends now and is glad for it. As for the riffle, she makes it a point to occasionally mention how the Sheriff should just man up and propose already.

Caitlyn also has a habit of fixing her hat every so often without it being off in any way. Just to do something with her hands. She keeps it under control when in public, only giving way should she feel anxious (a rare occurance indeed). She also dislikes to use stained paper as material for her hobby, which makes the younger woman curious as to what is it that makes her feel the need to work with it anyway. Not that she means to question her luck, she obviously hasn't noticed Jinx's note. That the Enforcer is supposed to write another report is left unsaid but clear.

"I'm sorry but I'm actually here on business, there is a... concern about Jinx trying to locate you." Heah no kidding. "There was an incident last night where someone who I gather was her, assaulted a worker in another hospital and left her locked in a records room. Presumably after looking through them. I suspect that she may be looking for you." The younger woman fails to feign surprise and decides to just go with it.

"I'm not gonna be surprised by anything that psycho does, well, suicide maybe but other than that? Nope."

"You do realise what that means though don't you?" Vi sighs.

"...Cait-"

"Listen, we both know that she's out for you. I'm doing what I can to prevent it but if she's actively hunting you then my hands are tied. You know the procedures, no personal involvement. It's not blatantly clear yet and the Administration knows we need you to get her but they won't overlook it should it get worse. In this case, the woman was thankfully vague about her description, so officially- it's not Jinx, but we both know better. The Administration too but they're letting it slip, no one wants you out."

"That awesome, am I?" she responds with a smug expression.

"Don't let it get to your head, I don't like it. I introduced the procedure myself, there's a reason for it and I feel uneasy omitting the obvious. I'm worried about you, that the next report I get will be about you as a victim." The brunette lets out and exasperated sigh. "I feel like I should pull you out but I can't. It's frustrating."

If there ever will be better moment to tell her that Shrimp was here, Vi would be surprised, but she knows now that she can't do that. In a not so direct way she's been told that she would have already been out of the picture if the situation wasn't as bad as it is, that she's needed. And she knows that, who else can match Jinx in a fight? Caitlyn is great at investigation, traps, luring the pray in, which requires said pray to follow certain patterns, which Jinx doesn't. The Sheriff is a mastermind, not a brute like Vi, capable of barrelling straight through rubble and fire left behind by the criminal, nobody else is stupid enough, as Jayce put it.

Speaking of, Futureboy has been doing a lot to fight the maniac too, conveniently turning up in right places at the right time. He's one hell of a vigilante, that she must give to him. His loose association with the police lets him help out when legal department's hands are tied, it's ridiculous how he just happens to be assaulted by a gang every other day and never once has it been proven that he was the instigator, in which case he'd have to be arrested, for show if nothing else. To be completely honest Vi is not sure how does such a rotten system work, as to allow the peacekeepers to avoid the law they're supposed to uphold. At its core she doesn't see much difference from the street rules, the strong forces their rules upon the weak and those with right connections that are useful to the boss are left to do their thing.

This is one of these cases. By all means she shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Jinx, but that's the thing about being irreplaceable. Rigidly following rules would do more harm than good. For example, had Jayce not destroyed his stolen work the consequences could have been catastrophic, so instead of being sentenced to a Zaunite prison as the other city state rightfully demanded, he was just given a slap on the wrist in form of banning him from entering Zaun, and to add insult to injury he is now a celebrity. There's got to be some divine bullshit behind his luck because seriously. But all this points to something.

Law seems to have suspiciously little to do with justice.

"Aw come on Cupcake, we're not about to go over that one again are we?"

"No, but I can't keep ignoring procedures forever, if she comes after you here I will have no choice but to pull you out, I'm sorry." Well damn they're in luck, cause it probably isn't gonna happen AGAIN.

"Okay." Hopefully anyway.

Caitlyn seems to have expected an argument if her momentary pause in folding the paper is any indication, it looks a bit like a crane, a piebald crane.

"Thank you," she says quietly, damn it, now Vi feels bad about withholding the truth about the material from which she is creating her little art. It's still better than the alternative of being flat out refused to handle Jinx, but still, the relief she hears in her friend's voice makes her own heart heavy. She probably expected their talk to go badly, and it likely would have if the threat of the bluenette's arrival was still real. Though one can never be sure of what will that little psycho do "For the time being, be careful." With that she puts the finished crane on the nightstand and makes to leave.

"So I guess I'll see you in a week?"

"I suppose so, oh, right, I almost forgot." Caitlyn pulls out a card from her belt pouch and hands it to her subordinate. "A list of things you might want to ready yourself for when the journalists come, I've figured it would help."

"Ah fff-thank you, damn I forgot about that too, you know when they'll come?"

"In about three hours I believe, and I still expect these papers to be done by the day after tomorrow." She points at the rest of documents lying menacingly beside the paper crane.

"Yeah, yeah I got this. You just worry about the welcome back party and I'll do my job. Thanks for bringing my stuff."

The Enforcer is given one last smile before being left alone again. She stares at the paper figure left by her boss for a long time before opening the list she was given and reading through its contents.

* * *

I think it's worth mentioning that I base Piltover mostly somewhere in the first half of XX century technology-wise. With hextech n' shit but still far far away from what we currently have. So no security cameras, they came with digital age as did many other things in regards to fighting the crime.


	7. 1 - 7

The Sun is hovering over the horizon again by the time Jinx gets back to her hideout, every so often overtaken by coughing and relentlessly tormented by a growing headache.

She sticks the key into a padlock that binds the chain she uses to keep an unlikely visitor out of her 'residence'. She deduced that it looks more makeshift this way, a lock would require actual work to install as opposed to simply wrapping a chain around the grip bar and a steel construction pillar beside it. It's supposed to look inconspicuous, putting actual work into securing her place defeats the point of setting up a base here in the first place. Or maybe she's just lazy, maybe both, maybe neither. It's not like she has an actual door anyway, it's simply a tabletop with hinges bolted into it that is covering a hole Fishbones made. She has yet to find a way of closing it from the inside but that's something to consider in the future. She's a light sleeper and in the remote chance that someone does come to the very top of the clock tower, she will just take care of them. There have been no need for that as of yet though.

Temporary solutions do tend to become permanent quite often as far as she is concerned. She only has a door at all because there already was a table here, beside the one in her workroom that is. Dragging a real one up these freaking stairs and through the city would probably not go over too well. The way it is, she only had to find some hinges, grip and bolts along with a hammer to bolt the stuff together. In all honesty it looks halfway ready to fall apart but Jinx is proud of her work nonetheless. It is unique, she prizes that trait above any else.

"I'm back!" She lets her friends know, she left them in the storeroom, on her own mattress to make up for both the fact that she needs extra space to get "comfy" these days, and that she left them alone. They usually sleep together, She is not exactly a big person so they manage. Only with her injuries and the way she always has trouble finding the right position to rest it would not be a good idea for yet some time. Lest she fancies needlessly hurting herself.

The girl closes the oversized plank after her when she enters her home, then makes her way into the makeshift bedroom to check on her companions. As predicted, they are both safely tucked under cover, dead asleep, just as she left them. Jinx smiles and casually retreats to the other room to open the window, then dumps her backpack's contents onto the unoccupied space on the table. There isn't much of said space and some of the items she brought roll off it and fall down onto the floor. She doesn't care, she will or will not pick them up later, for now she throws the bag over her shoulder and sits down on the wooden bench while shrugging off the violet hoodie, leaving her upper body covered only in bandages, clumsily wrapped around her torso and arms, and letting her braids brush the floor underneath her. There is work to be done and she is unused to having so many clothes on, they feel constricting.

Her yawn turns into a coughing fit, reminding the girl to actually use the drugs she's liberated. Jinx grabs the right box and smirks. Dispersible tablets, yeah sure. Whatever. She rips the sachet open and pops a pill straight into her mouth, deciding to simply chew it, leaving her cringing as her taste buds catch up with the idea. It sorta tastes like lime paint, she used to ruin walls because of it, anything was better than her real meals. Well- before she was moved to the pillow room anyway. She forces herself to swallow and flicks the tongue around her mouth, cleaning it of the aftertaste before switching attention back to her workspace.

The surface of the provisional workbench is littered with halfway made bombs and rockets, beside them stand jars of chemicals she uses, some of them even labeled. It's a pain and a half to make her own rockets but her best friend is after all custom made. There is no serial ammo for him, as opposed to Pow-Pow who can use commonly available rounds, he too was created by Jinx herself but she knew straight away she would never find the patience to fill one casing after another, hundreds of times over, and then do it again just a day after. It's the kind of work a machine does. It's not like her minigun complains about it, she will find a way to find him custom made bullets should he ever mention it but he seems content for now.

As opposed to Fishbones, she doesn't get it, she pours so much love and caring into every rocket she makes for him and still he complains about her using him to blow things up. Ungrateful bastard. She's been working on a new one lately, crafty as they get, With expanded yield and acceleration and stuff. She calls it Super Mega Death Rocket, for now. She will think up a better name when it's finished, maybe, not like anyone cares. Stupid rocket launcher probably won't even appreciate it. She scowls at the though but it doesn't stray her from the task at hand. Namely, designing a shell small enough to work with her moronic friend. The problem is that in order to be more powerful she has to pack more amatol into the rocket, totally doable, problem is that it leaves too little space for fuel chamber. She theorized both using liquid and solid propellant but in the end the effects are just laughable, the projectile would fly for around a hundred meters and die. Yeah the explosion would be bigger but that's not what she is looking for. SMDR has to be better in every way.

To that end, she has focused on redesigning the shell itself, as to accumulate more propeller and explosives, so far she has concluded that a new missile would be either too long or big for her weapon, jamming inside the barrel or outright refusing to fit. All of it a moot point really since the rocket would be off balance and prove impossible to aim. And that's without even taking into account the differing weight of various materials used to gradually accelerate the little nuisance.

Basically a bad idea. Drawing the missiles proved to be fun though, even if they all are more or less impractical. She pouts and reaches for her sketchbook, drawing it from under a toy monkey (whom in a bout of creativity she named Monkey). She flips the notebook open and skims through her drawings. Most of them are at least somewhat viable, since she actually tried to get some work done with her pet project but some of them... suffice it to say that she didn't even do the math regarding them. These ones are there mostly because she needed a moment to gather her scattered thoughts. She glances at Monkey and after a moment of consideration turns it around, finding her unblinking stare disturbing. She flips the pages to find the project she has ultimately decided on. It's disappointingly simple in Jinx's eyes. Little more than a tube really, but it's also the only design she has any hope to perfect. Splashing some paint on it will resolve the simplicity issue anyway.

And it all needs to be just perfect to be good enough. Her normal rockets are just RPGs and she's talking art here, something to not just go boom when it hits a wall but to pierce through it and still have enough power to gut the room behind it, or even the entire floor! There is nothing like it in existence and the maniac shivers in excitement at the mere thought of being the first to ever use it. But that's the problem, it doesn't yet exist.

The only solution she can think of is drastic reduction of the payload to accommodate for more fuel, which in turn makes it hard to aim. She ponders on it for a second, feeling a dull ache well on its way to blow up behind her stinging eyes. Making the thing heavier would defeat its purpose, but using lighter materials likewise increases dispersion, arrows use feathers to stabilize their flight but how is she to fit fins into a hand-held launcher? Frustrated, she reaches for the cough syrup she liberated before visiting Fathands. She has no idea what it is other than the fact it tastes like liquified sugar. She unscrews the cap and downs half the bottle in one go. Jinx stares at it for long couple seconds, feeling vaguely like she's forgotten something and it is now at the back of her mind. Meaning lost and buried until it resurfaces on its own.

And even if she does it, even if she manages to get the rocket going. What does it matter if the effect will be that of an oversized bullet? She needs something big, spectacular! Material that yields far more power than the stuff she usually mixes. Something way out of her league.

Hm. Wasn't there some commotion over a Piltie having some fun in Zaun with his toys?

It's a viable option to consider, she would still have to figure out how to deal with all the other issues but tackling even one problem at a time is giving her a headache. She doesn't need more than that at the moment. Right now she knows to be in no shape to pull off a heist of that scale. A week (or less if she so feels), that's... a lot of time to burn. That's like- well she can't decide how much time it is, 168 hours yeah but how long do 168 hours take to pass? Pointless to think about, what's important is what will she do when the time comes.

What is that name... what is his name... She can't force her sore mind to remember, it doesn't matter in the end. All she needs to know is how the yordle in question has managed to make his explosives so astonishingly spectacular. She taps the syrup bottle against the wood as she tries to think of a plan to acquire the explosives.

But the only thing she can focus on by now is the pulsating pain behind her skull. Frustrated, she grabs her head with both her hands, trying in vain to make it stop, trying to stop thinking about pain as these thoughts only fuel it further. A coughing fit decides it a good time to rear its ugly head and it leaves the bluenette pulling at her hair, face down on the table.

She sits like that for some time before blindly reaching over to rummage through the pile of supplies she brought in, knocking half of it onto floor. She only lifts her head to look when she feels a familiar sized box in her hand. Jinx straightens out and pulls out a sachet from the inside, stares at it in contemplation and finally pops four pills into her mouth, then washes them down with the syrup still remaining in the bottle, which after emptying, she throws out of the window. She is fairly sure she has sent someone to hospital by now with her habit of disposing of small trash that way.

And at the top of it all, she can feel her nose stuffing up again.

Ugh.

Jinx waits a long time before standing up, her legs feel like cotton and the needles in her head are replaced with an overwhelming dizziness and something alike hum. Her eyes sting as if they never will again and everything just seems so... weird, and heavy. She grabs the drops from the last day, stuffs them into her shorts and makes way to the mattress in another room. Not to sleep, no, sleeping is quite impossible right now. Every time Jinx closes her eyes it seems like the world can't decide whether it should come closer, further away or simply fall apart. Rather unpleasant though not at all unfamiliar feeling, this drowsiness. It still comes nowhere near close to what she is used to, she can still think unlike after whatever it was she was being given back home. Not that she knows what it was, not simple painkillers that's for sure.

She stops dead in her tracks as she sees a lump beneath her blanket. There is someone in her bed, why is there someone in her bed? She grins wickedly as she creeps towards the mattress, pulling out a bullet from her belt, ready to slam it into the head of whoever it is that had thinks himself capable of outsmarting her. Hah! Maybe he thought he'd be lucky, that's a good one.

"Don't count on luck!" she nearly squeals in excitement as she throws the cover off. To find a rather confused and sleepy looking Fishbones lying beside Pow-Pow. Her smile fades into a frown. "And what are you guys doing in here?"

"Jinx?"

"Your mom." No wait...

"You don't look so good." Hah!

"Cause I don't feel so, how'd you get here?" She puts the bullet back into its belt slot and kneels down to roll the rocket launcher over, making place to sit herself on, and carefully rests her back against the wall. The bricks' cold is soothing, she likes it much better than warmth.

"I don't know, you left me elsewhere." Jinx can't remember leaving him anywhere.

"Whatever, just need to sit for a bit."

"What did you do again? Are you hurt?"

"Was a headache, took pills already, just gotta wait 'em out." She notices how her minigun seems to be eyeing her with a special kind of interest, and it takes a lot to get his attention. She shakes her head to clean her foggy thoughts a bit, nearly falling over from doing so.

"What?" She asks eventually, Pow-Pow naturally doesn't answer. He's got his partner for that.

"What?"

"Pow-Pow's doing the stare thing again," the girl turns back to Fishbones after picking her other friend up and setting him on her lap. "What does he want?"

"I don't know, maybe he's curious about your day, You were out for a long time." She bites the inside of her cheek to keep her mind awake, she doubts she'll be able to catch half of his words if he goes into one of his rants.

"I was shopping." Yup. Nothing suspicious at all there.

"For almost a day?"

"Yup, and painting too, I wasn't doing that for a while so... uh, thought I could." Fishbones eyes her with a calculating look, knowing full well she's lying. She does things for fun not because... reasons, damn it she's a bad liar. Especially like this.

Silence falls between them for some time, long enough for Jinx to close her eyes for a moment before the whirling sensation kicks in and startles her awake.

"You visited her didn't you?" Seriously? HOW? How does he ALWAYS knows these things?!

"No." It comes out more like a question, much to the girl's displeasure.

"Jinx," he begins, his voice patronizing, like one would speak to a child, it's irritating beyond belief and strangely soothing at the same time "You don't have to lie to me, you can always trust me."

"Yeah, I'm not lying though."

"Jinx-"

"I didn't." She cuts in, and that is that. The rocket launcher only sighs at her words.

"So you actually went shopping this time? Like with money?"

"Pft! No? Are you kidding? I said shopping not buying. Me. Buying!" She breaks out into a fit of giggles, followed shortly by more coughing.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, ju- just give me a sec." She reaches into her pocket to pull out the drops and tilts her head back to use them. They spend another minute like that before the criminal flares her nostrils couple times to finally find them clear.

"Besides," she continues "I don't have any money." It's of little use to her, and while she was curious of it when she first encountered it, the novelty quickly wore off. While she has a good mind for numbers (minus migraines) the way people go about life is strange at the least. Oh she grasps the concept of money and exchange, it has to do with being a productive member of society- which she is not. As her friend likes to remind her every now and then.

"Maybe you should start earning it, you know, settle down." She can't help but snort in amusement.

"Yeah sure, maybe we should join the police?" She flashes the twit by her side the most charming smirk she can muster.

"Ugh..."

Job.

Hilarious.

"...Maybe let's just forget about that for now."

"Why? Don't you want to-" She cuts off as she feels her insides squirm uncomfortably, letting out a faint sound of discontent.

"When did you eat last time?"

"When did YOU eat last time huh?" She giggles for a moment before noticing the stern look on her friend's face. "Urgh... like half a day ago? Ish?"

"And what did you steal this time? Candy?"

She puffs her cheeks out and looks to the side, avoiding Fishbones' judging gaze.

"Jinx!"

"Oh shut up, you never even ate it and you keep going on about how unhealthy candy is. Hey Jinx you should eat vegetables. Hey listen, maybe you should cut on sweets. Hey Jinx, liste- What are you? A deietes- deietis- diet- you know what? You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do, so hah!" She crosses her arms and turns her gaze towards the empty wall and away from her friend.

"..."

"...And this healthy stuff tastes awful, you wouldn't know." He sighs before speaking up again.

"Just wash your teeth before you fall over asleep. And did you get that thermometer?"

"...Dammit."

* * *

such ideas

many work

so struggle

succez ungaranted

wow


	8. 1 - 8

"Well, she stuck with the script mostly at least." Murmurs Caitlyn as she turns a page of Piltover Daily. She quietly congratulates herself on having the foresight to prepare a sheet with the questions that were most likely to be asked. She was mostly correct, of course she was. She deals with reporters on Daily basis, it would be an oversight on everyone's part to let her remain ignorant of the ways press works. They haven't came up with anything new really, deciding to go with the usual approach, a bit of backstory on the whole situation, some information about Vi herself, what had she done in the factory, and of course accusations of causing the destruction of said place. All of it predicted and easily sidestepped. But then come what she both feared and knew would eventually turn up.

Questions about Vi's link to the criminal were expected but hardly simple to answer. That being the reason she did not let the local news get a hold of Vi before now, and gave her advice not to let herself be questioned. Something the younger woman has not disputed, she's not used to media attention and frankly, does not desire it. She had one interview before, alongside the Sheriff herself to help her out right after being accepted into The Force, when half the city was still in uproar about pulling a known criminal into police. To be sure, Vi's work record is not stellar, but that's entirely due to property damage caused by her rather... unorthodox methods.

Regardless, to any onlooker, the way Jinx taunts the pinkette, visible mostly by vandalizing the city with her graffiti (ever since she arrived that particular offence has became common five times over, not that she does it all by herself but because she seems to have started a trend) makes it pretty obvious that they must have met before. That is what some believe anyway, and it's because of this that the question has arisen, is the infamous officer is doing everything in her power to stop Jinx's havoc campaign?

It's insulting not only to Vi but also Caitlyn as it implies she made a wrong choice regarding the (then) girl, and that she has no control over her subordinates. But to be perfectly honest she does not much care about such accusations, as herself being blamed for every little issue arising in the city is nothing new to the woman. The message is subtle enough for the most troublesome elements not to even notice. And those who matter know better than to trust the local press. Though some might use it against her anyway.

In the future perhaps, nobody wants to truly undermine her position right now. Not until she deals with the mad criminal, then it's going to be an entirely different story.

Speaking of which, Vi was right, mostly. There have been grand total of five sightings of someone who could have been Jinx, hospital incident included. And a pharmacy burglary that same day which only proves that indeed, she is currently licking her wounds. What bothers her is the record room, either she used it simply to hide her victim and was not in fact looking for the Enforcer, or she did and after not finding anything, simply gave up. There is no way to tell when it comes to her, since there were no further incidents she assumes that the bluenette had indeed ditched her search.

It might have been a coincidence. She could have been there for more supplies, it's possible, in that case she could have just decided to use the opportunity to check for her favourite person, or she could've really only been using the room as a hiding place. Both seem to be a logical conclusions, as she had shown no signs of ever actively looking for her subordinate. Always the other way around.

Still, there are at least four possible reasons for her to be in the hospital. Looking for supplies, for Vi, for both or for no reason at all (since it is after all Jinx). Another three for which she was in the aforementioned room, to hide the body, to look for Vi and some combination of both. And then endless possibilities of what (if anything) she had actually done with the records and how did she use (or not) the knowledge there. She hates coincidences but knows better that to dismiss them, they happen. Combine that with someone as erratic as Jinx and it becomes impossible to limit the options to something solid enough to work with.

She is brought out of her reverie by the rapping on the door. She briefly checks the time before folding the newspaper and straightening out in her chair.

"Come in."

She is naturally not surprised when Jayce comes through, led by one of her men. He was supposed to arrive five minutes ago, she only raises one brow as he smiles in greeting before being seated in a chair in front of her desk. Her officer snaps a salute and she turns head to him.

"Dismissed," the man salutes again before retreating from the sheriff's office, leaving the two alone, she then turns to the man seated before her, displeased frown on her face. "You're late."

"Sorry, I had to take a walk. Something happened to my car." He responds with a grin, clearly enjoying himself despite the situation he's in. Oh is he in for a nasty treat.

"One could only wonder why, or rather why something happened to it." The scientist only shrugs in response. "Jayce." She says flatly, unamused by his flippant act.

"Alright, alright! Cogs... bad day?"

She takes a glance at the folded paper, on which an "**Exclusive interview with the city's Enforcer**" is announced in big, fat letters. Just long enough for him to take notice.

"Oh I read that, did you write her some tips? It kind of feels like an interview with you you know?" Really? She hasn't noticed.

"It does?" She lets a faint tone of surprise carry over in her voice.

"A bit, nothing too blatant, just not Vi's style," he shots her a lopsided grin. "She doesn't bullshit nearly as much."

The brunette smiles in spite of herself, both irked by his words and amused at how much truth his statement holds. Still, there is work to be done.

"Enough with pleasantries, tell me what to do with you."

"Oh I could tell you great many things, which one exactly?"

Caitlyn kills a groan threatening to escape her throat.

"The car?"

"Ah, that one. You could... you know, let me get it back?" He lets his hopeful words hang in the air, she folds her arms as a response, dignifying him only with a flat stare. "I mean it's only a radio, with some modifications of course but still-"

"It's picking up our frequencies-"

"Well of course it does, did you ever listen to Zaunite stations? You can do that too, this far away!"

"And deciphering them."

"It's multipurpose." The man raises his hands in a helpless gesture.

"The car?" She sees his confident facade waver for a blink of an eye.

"The radio."

"Jayce."

"Caitlyn."

She sighs and rubs her eyes with two fingers. She has not expected him to cooperate on this particular issue, not really. Not in the way he usually does, seeing as it has little to do with fighting crime and more with regulations that the city's hero so despises.

Caitlyn is a good sheriff, and a bad one in a sense. Her most important duty is to protect the citizens of Piltover. Even when it mean sidestepping the law she is enforcing. She knows perfectly well why the regulations are in place, she is ashamed to admit it even to herself but without them, she would abuse her power. With no warrants required, her officers could work much more effectively but would that bring safety to the citizens? Or at least the feeling of it? She knows she would arrest criminals just to prevent them from hiding evidence, she can't do that now, not for longer than a day at least. Trials, witnesses, judges, what's the point when everyone knows who is guilty.

There is no other feeling she hates quite as much as having to let a criminal go simply because the evidence is not compelling enough. She does her work well, Piltover is what it is and not the second Zaun because of her. Still, sometimes even she can't overcome the chains she's wrapped herself in when creating and accepting the position of a sheriff. She knew of Vi long before cornering her, and she could have done it earlier. Only until a certain point she was not certain which would do more good, letting the thief of thieves loose and picking up the pieces left in her wake or having her directly under her own control. Eventually she chose the latter. Because of collateral mostly.

Jayce's case is obviously different, he's a local hero. A champion of the people, his acts of vigilantism are viewed as heroic. Thus he needs not be put under careful scrutiny as her Enforcer needed (still needs) to be, the public won't resent him for his acts as opposed to a certain pink headed wrecking ball. He is loved by the citizens, she herself is admired and respected but not loved, probably due to her being police. It tends to put people off a bit.

It's perfect really, his situation, when she can't do her job through legal means and knows to be in the right, in comes Futureman, as people took to calling him, personally she considers the title adorably corny. In a reversed way. All she needs to do is hint at needing help and share some copies of the case files with him in her office under pretense of berating him for one thing or another, like his driving, it's truly atrocious and he keeps receiving parking tickets all the time. She is fairly sure she will order his license to be taken away one day. And should he protest the court will side with her, she knows.

Usually after a week or two pass, Jayce is reported to have partook in a fight involving the case, as a victim of course, strangely, possessing the evidence necessary to condemn the accused that his attacker just so happened to have on his person without him knowing how it got there nor any trace of the vigilante himself being involved. It's important as she would have to arrest him otherwise. She doesn't ask about his methods, it's better not to. For Caitlyn it is enough to know that justice can be served.

Still, their partnership is based upon dedication to protection of the city, it doesn't mean she treats him differently when he clearly breaks the law. The sheriff's position exists to uphold the law and bring justice after all.

In that order.

It's depressing to think of.

She draws a report from a drawer in her desk and lies it in front of herself to read what exactly is wrong with his vehicle.

"Hextech engine, modified throttle, magical battery, distributor, carburetter, exhaust system, no air bags- it goes on. We should take away your license." He hesitates.

"Will you?" She slides the list closer to him.

"No, but we're scrapping your car and I can easily get a warrant for an inspection of your laboratory and house now." She smirks as she lets her words sink in, he scoffs.

"Not much but scrap left of it." He grumbles.

"Who said I'd get it now?" There it is, a nervous spark in his eyes, good. The fool probably does keep all his less than legal machinery there, as brilliant a scientist and socialite as he is, he truly can be inept in the most simple of fields, he covers his tracks masterfully, yes. But it hasn't even occur to him that he should hide some of his possessions away. Or maybe it has but he doesn't know how to go about it, not her problem any more. She will get that warrant when she will, what he does about it is his own business. "Also, you'll be paying a fine."

"Again?"

"No, it's bigger than usual." She tells him the number and his smile falls completely. Replaced with a shocked expression of disbelief.

"Seriously?" The woman smirks into her hand.

"No." Relief washes over Jayce's face only to be replaced with an unamused glare.

"You can't do this to a man, take his wheels away and then kick him while he's down."

"Yhm. You're still paying a fine, only closer to the usual. For illegal modifications, and for our mechanic gutting out all of them, so don't worry you will get your car back." Despite her best efforts, the smirk still lingers on her lips, though she let both her arms lay on the desk now, allowing him to see it.

"But that's basically everything inside, it won't even start! I- you can't!" She must admit to herself that she does find a certain sense of enjoyment in watching him plead. What is it with people she surrounds herself with and their machines? Vi and Jayce are both obsessed with their "babies" as they call them. Caitlyn asked the pinkette if she could inspect her gloves once. Once. She still gets suspicious looks from her whenever she mentions them. And it's not like she could use them anyway, she's fit, obviously, but to use Vi's contraptions requires the sort of endurance she simply lacks.

And the scientist in front of her even wired a shock mechanism into his hammer, honestly. She likes her own rifle but she's not crazed about it, it got to a point when she had to ask herself about it, somewhat worried that her friends might be rubbing off on her in that respect. She has her ticks she knows, there is no need for more.

"Well it used to be perfectly good, not to mention legal when you first bought it." Yes, she had her mechanic inspect it back then, had to pay him from her own wallet too since everything was in order.

"It's still perfectly good, just a bit- uh-" He pauses looking for the right word to downplay it a bit.

"Tuned?" She supplies.

"Yeah, tuned, there is no reason to harm her?" Her? Really?

"Well then you will be disappointed to know that it is already done and over with. You can get... her. Back whenever you wish, though I'd advise doing so quickly, we're charging for its stay you know." She pauses to take in his dismayed expression. "It's in the industrial district department's parking lot. We can lend you a car carriage also. And take this." She slides him a folder that's been lying by her side all this time. "So that you may take the car back before paying your fine, read it. It's important."

His brows furrow after hearing that and he looks at her inquisitively, asking the unsaid question to which she nods. Jayce sighs.

"Alright, anything else? I'm still rebuilding my lab," he asks as he grabs a hold of the folder given to him, eyeing it warily though not without a hint of excitement.

"How is Vi?" He doesn't even seem surprised that she knows he visited her again. The question seems to actually help him relax for he assumes his usual smile again.

"Better than before actually, she keeps talking about how she will get Jinx next time, heh, we've heard that one before haven't we? But yes she's better, rest mostly I suppose. She's been pushing herself too hard."

"I know."

"Good, she doesn't listen to me, maybe you should try." She should, she won't.

"We need her."

"And not dead tired either, she's no use to anyone like that." He falls silent for couple seconds. "Anyway, I'll do as you asked. Is there anything more? I really need to get going."

"No, no that would be all. Thank you for visiting her, I can't."

"We know that." With that he stands up and nods her goodbye before leaving the office.

She leans back in her chair as he closes the door behind him. She would very much like to visit her friend, her mother and father, talk with Ezreal, have tea with Janna. To go to the streets and personally take bad guys down, why, even participate in a silly shooting competition at a charity event. Now though she is deprived of any kind of real social life, and she misses action, she is the best investigator alive and can't waste herself on matters of little importance, her only ongoing case in which she is directly involved in is that of their local psychopath. She must of course manage the departments but she does it with little to no issue, she has experience in that. Where to send who, promotions, overseeing finances managed by her subordinates. She delegated more people to these things in order to find more time for Jinx without completely exhausting herself.

Her schedule leaves her with enough time to sleep and relax as to keep her mind sharp, unless of course an emergency happens that she needs to attend. Patrols, questionings, patterns, possible new targets, traps, emergency responses, tracking and so on. Only there are no patterns, the best way of stopping Jinx she can think of right now is to catch her (or kill her) during the next big attack. She has authorized the use of lethal force in a situation of mere contact with her. After the Treasury fiasco it became quite adamant that there is no other way, of course she would prefer to jail the criminal before having her killed but beside the precious few details she knows nothing about the maniac.

What she does know is that Jinx uses rooftops and sewers to move around the city, usually at night though not exclusively. Her spottings happen haphazardly all across Piltover, leading her to believe that she has more than one hideout, not necessarily secluded, as such areas were already thoroughly inspected, but again, it doesn't rule them out. She acquires munitions through burglary, specifically black market burglary. She also appears to be a Zaunite.

That's it. Everything she knows that could possibly help in her localising her target. Surprisingly, the Zaunite ambassador had chosen to share the information that yes indeed, she had caused some trouble in his home city a couple months ago before disappearing after the military stepped in. Less surprisingly, he also claims not to know anything else.

Any hope of meaningful cooperation with Zaun is naturally a dead end.

With nothing urgent requiring her attention, Caitlyn goes back to reviewing the reports of the current struggle that The Force is going through, with the momentary absence of their greatest threat they can focus on reigning in the rampaging crime that has followed the in Jinx's wake. Drug dealers, new gangs, human trafficking and black market have all became secondary objectives because of one person.

She picks up the pencil and begins twirling it between her fingers as she reads.

* * *

Say hello to to a chapter focused on Hat Lady.


	9. 1 - 9

The task of washing her hair is a grueling one, to be done with at least an hour at her disposal if not more. It's not even that she needs that much time to properly wash it- conditioner and all, it's what comes before and after that she truly hates (not that she likes to deal with it in the first place, hence braids). Namely- brushing. Some two meters long worth of work and it takes forever and then some to finish when started. Still, it's even more annoying when dirty and tangled. Fishbones mentioned once that she should simply cut it but while she did give his crazy idea some consideration, she eventually scrapped it as a no-go.

It's hers, Jinx is not about to give up on it, she only ever experimented with haircuts on her fringe but seeing the blue strands fall to the ground made her felt strangely melancholic. She refuses to go further than that even if it means a world of pain every time she grudgingly gets around to showering. Oh she likes water itself (unless it's Zaunite, you never know what manner of toxin got through faulty filters), only it's wet, and once her hair gets wet then good luck drying it up. As such she has taken to never washing her hair before sleeping, it's uncomfortable and a bother to find space to lay it out for drying.

Still, getting all the grime out is an enormous relief, she had no wish to deal with it until her back was at least mostly healed and would not be irked by the moist braids. So beside that one time when she caught fever she left it alone ever since blowing the factory up.

She groans as the brush get stuck after finding yet another knot on the top of her head. She has a suspicion that either Fishbones or Zap play with it when she's asleep just to screw with her, Pow-Pow is... Pow-Pow, he's a rather serious fellow most of the time and the maniac has trouble imagining him messing with her just cause. How they do it she knows not but seriously, this can't possibly be happening on its own, her sleep is restless and she tosses a LOT but it can't be the only reason.

Jinx sweeps a hand through her hair to pull out the loose strands and throws them into the toilet only to grab the brush again and start the process anew. If she's gonna deal with this then the least she will do is make damn sure her braids look nice. The thought leads the bluenette's mind to her posters all around the city. She feels highly insulted about the way they show her, she doesn't look like that when she smiles (does she?), that people can't remember her face right at the gunpoint is their problem not hers! But it sure is annoying. Well, useful too yeah sure but come on!

She wonders what Fathands thinks about her looks.

Her hand stops moving for a moment before she scowls and returns to the task at hand, agitated by her own thoughts. She finally puts the brush away and begins another part of the time consuming process, braiding. She prefers doing so with still wet hair as otherwise it proves to be quite the difficult task. Her fingers can't quite manage mastering the motions necessary. She bites her lip to help her resists a sudden need to scratch the back of her head, eyes twitching from agitation. She'll have to start all over again if she does and that will be even worse.

She rushes through the remaining motions and secures her work with a hair band before immediately digging her nails in the mess on her head to vigorously scratch it to the point of pain, grazing an old scar she usually covers with hair, the source of her ire- in the process. She can't remember how nor when in her life did it appear. Her memory from years back is spotty at best.

Satisfied, Jinx goes on about making the second braid only to find it uneven in length, a bit shorter than the right one. She takes both in hand to see that in her rush she made the first one a little more loose.

"Meh." She shrugs and tries to tuck the fringe behind her ear just to have it fall back to cover her face. Really. She glances at the hairpins inconspicuously laying on the sink's edge, after a moment of thought deciding to simply use wax to deal with the problem as she usually does. She nonetheless grabs the clips and sticks them behind her ear. She keeps telling herself she will figure out how to pick locks one day. Never really got around to seriously trying but she knows the theory behind it. And it's not like she needs to, the girl has her friends to deal with doors and nuisances of similar nature but she thinks it would be cool to know how to pick locks, maybe even useful when she wants to avoid noise (instead of having to bother with keys in say, hospitals). She bets her favorite officer knows how to. She used to be a thief from what she gathered.

"Ugh!" She shakes her head, the thoughts of Pinktard keep invading her mind way too often. It's like she built a nest there!

Her bloodshot eyes widen as the mental image of a miniature Vi, with pink wings, beak and all the rest of birdy stuff, flying around in her head and picking ears with hairpins, burns itself into Jinx's disarranged brain. She shudders and unconsciously picks her ear with a pinky as she reaches for the stack (a pompous name for the articles of clothing in question if there ever was any) of clothes she has managed to outfit her (many) belts with.

She rolls her shoulders to stretch out the skin on her back before pulling on the top part of her outfit over the head, and after few experimental stretches buckles it. She doesn't want to upset the bruised and dry skin under the piece, it's mostly just stinging by now but still, it's a bother, Jinx hates those insignificant things that do little more than create a distraction from whatever she tries to focus on. Her nose twitches at the thought, knowing full well its owner will have to cease using drops soon. She discovered on her own that for whatever reason her nose will keep stuffing up until she stops fighting it, after moderate amount of time given to the body to rid itself of sickness.

Not that her temperature is gone but the murderous cough that tormented her for the last few days is. At least her back doesn't look like a grumpy rainbow any longer. It looks like a yellow one instead, with red and purple bruises gone.

Not wanting to be coped up any longer than necessary she pulls on her unmentionables and shorts. She only found one stocking, the pink one. Even though she clearly remembers that a week ago she still had teal and violet ones, pairs even! How she ended up with one out of six she has no idea. She groans at the thought of blisters she's going to suffer unless she gets new socks. If this trend keeps up then she will walk barefooted in no time! And she happens to very much like her boots, mostly because her toes are safe and sound inside, as opposed to the stuff most ladies around Piltover wear, heh, to be honest she can't even walk in them but that's not a big loss in her eyes.

Why would anyone choose to torture themselves with heels on daily basis is beyond her. But there is one thing she does get about their outfits.

She reaches for the cosmetic box.

Now painting she can understand, painting is fun. Jinx has noticed women do it all the time, or at least the ones from the shinier parts of the city do. No wonder, the ones working in factories get so dirty by night time it's a miracle they aren't permanently infused with dust. They never let her do it before she got out and she has never quite managed to replicate the effect that this one lady in Zaun pulled off when she for the first time discovered this whole make-up stuff. Oh so many fancy names for simply painting one's face

She might have broken the aforementioned lady's mind with her tragic attempts at applying one, but she got better.

Mostly, anyway.

She throws the last brush back inside the box and scrunches her face up to admire the work she has done. Yeah, "mostly"- is a very good word to describe it. Jinx flashes her reflection a nefarious smirk at the thought of what's gonna happen soon. She was supposed to wait two more nights but ended up not capable of sitting in place for so long. She did her nails twice from sheer boredom! She even made a plan for tonight! It consists of two whole stages, plant a bomb in some place flashy to distract The Force from her real target, preferably hard to quickly access, so that cops have issues getting in and out of that location. Then get out and liberate hexplosives from the Academy. Simple, easy to follow, easy to remember. Basically fail proof if somebody were to question it (and she knows nobody will). Made in less than a minute so there is also that. Long winded plans never work, not that the criminal tried, mind. But she learns from mistakes of others.

It's funny how Hat Lady never learns how her elaborate traps are simply too sophisticated to work. If she really wants to stop her then she should simply call in a favor with Piltover's military and call for bombardment when the bluenette happens to be staying in one place. Or use the zeppelin for a more precise chemical strike. She got smoked out from Zaun because of such methods. Poison gas, she was coughing up blood for weeks to come after that. But boy was getting out of that pile of dung exciting! Best chase in her life right after that one where she collapsed a building on top of herself to escape.

She's really starting to doubt Snore Face's intelligence. So many ways to make things more interesting, collapse a building on her way, or the one Jinx is in. Poison the district, blow stuff up! No really, she can't outrun a shelling though she sure as a clock would have a blast trying. She giggles with a maniacal glint in her eyes.

"Hey Fishbones!"

"Yes?" Comes from the storage room where the sociopath left him so that he could get acquainted with three bombs she made this evening.

"Don't you think it'd be a blast to run from a shelling site?!"

"Not funny Jinx." The girl's expression turns sour and she storms out of the bathroom to retrieve all the supplies she will need for tonight's escapade. She shots her friend a glare as she enters the storage room but doesn't stop gathering her things as she speaks.

"Whatcha mean? It's hilarious." She puts on her gloves, used to be that both were the same length but one of them got torn up by a cat lately. Of all things, stupid cats, too stupid to be fun to play with and too big for a good target practice. At least they run fast, somewhat compensating for it. Pigeons are better, small, fast, and they fly.

"It's a pun." Well dur.

"Yeah, they're great, you're such a fun sponge."

"About running from a death zone, why don't you ever try normal jokes?" She freezes. Normal jokes?

Huh.

"You know any?"

"...no."

"Well then don't go around telling people to make them! That's stupid, okay hang on." She grabs his strap and throws him over her head, followed shortly by another belt with rockets- six to be exact, she fidgets with both until arranging them comfortably on her back. It hurts a bit when Fishbones rolls around but it's nothing she can't handle. "You never laugh. Why?"

"There's nothing to laugh at. And before you ask, I don't see what's so funny about destruction."

"You don't know a lotta things you're missing out on, but you never even try to enjoy yourself. Gears- you're a rocket launcher what else could you want?"

"I told you, some peace and quiet for start-"

"Yeah, sure, a weapon wanting peaceful life," snarls Jinx. "Can't believe I made you. Scrap's all you're good for in a house. Or a dumpster. You wanna be a dumpster?"

"I'd be happy if you were." This again, he keeps saying that as if he knows what she thinks. And he doesn't because she is perfectly happy with her life!

"I'm dandy now, so stop giving me your crap cause you're a death machine for life!"

"I just-"

"Blah blah blah, you just want me to die of boredom. My butt can't take any more sitting- figuratively." She grabs two ammo belts, then starts fastening them over waist and back. "And I don't hear better ideas coming from you. Or should I turn myself in?"

"You don't listen."

"And you do?" She picks up six snail drums and attaches them to the hip belts, then turns to the silent Pow-Pow and packs another three into him, each for one barrel. He's rather small when folded, she could actually make it so that he would be the size of a lunch box, BIG lunch box but still, she could fit it into a backpack. But that would mean having to unload the minigun every time she'd want to switch his size. So she decided to stick with a bigger version.

She can't tweak Fishbones too much as the barrel needs to be tight enough not to spit fire outside of it, restricting her options quite a bit, to visuals mostly. She picks her pink weapon up and straps him to her waist belt.

"Life isn't all about fun you know," he grumbles.

"Who says so?" She turns head to see his face, genuinely interested.

"Normal people?" Well that's a relief.

"Sheesh. So I'm normal now huh?"

"No! I- you-"

"Oh come on, I'm not gonna pretend to be like all these bores. But - heh, imagine me, in a... an apron or something, really," She giggles "Me. Settling down." It's like forcing a fish out of water and expecting it to live. Which they don't. She knows that first hand. From many (many) times she tried figuring out if they can.

"You could try though."

"And you could try to be less of an ass about it. I built you, I can replace you if I want."

"But you won't." It comes out more as a question than a fact he was probably going for. The girl turns away and lets the question hang in the air as she grabs Zap and puts him in the holster before finally answering with a smile that is only a little off.

"Nah, I probably won't. Now c'mon!" She throws the explosives' satchel over the shoulder, swaying lightly under the weight of all the gear she put on herself. "Let's wreak some havoc!"

* * *

"Put your signature here, here aaand here. There we go miss, you are free to go." Says the secretary in the hospital's departure office. Really, Vi hopes never to see more papers again in her life, so the thought of returning to work in a week to be drilled by Cait to finish paperwork as fast as possible sends an unpleasant shiver down her spine. At least a month of such treatment, she's not sure if it's a lesson for spilling on her report or not but it is her own fault. Finishing it before deadline, what came over her?

Ugh, she'll just have to get through it for however long it takes. Vi picks up the holdall (courtesy of Jayce) with her gauntlets from the ground, as while itching to wear them again, she's off duty and not allowed to do so on hospital grounds, technically, who would have stopped her after all? But it's not like she can't wait another hour until getting back home, to tweak and calibrate them a bit as they keep malfunctioning ever since the last fight. Besides, while she certainly hasn't stopped trying to write with the gauntlets on, the officer managed only a moderate amount of success in that venture. Along with breaking dozens of markers.

She grabs the bag with the rest of her belongings and after exiting the office moves to the entrance. Futureboy should be waiting for her in the parking lot already, in her own car as his was apparently confiscated for the time being. She snorts at the thought, it was hilarious to hear the man rant over the phone about all the parts he will have to smuggle into the city since even black market is not in possession of what he needs. Vi knows that because she is the one who helps him acquire the goods.

The pinkette finds him leaning against the passenger's door, with the window open and radio music coming from the inside. The machine itself is modified to handle small arms fire and not exactly the image of perfect care as Vi tends to pour more love into her Gauntlets first, then her bike. The car being somewhere down the list. Basically an emergency vehicle she's not opposed to trashing.

"Hey Jayce what's up!" His eyes snap to her, only now noticing Vi's arrival.

"Hey yourself. I've been looking for a place to store some of my work away all day, nasty. Apparently I'm not really a wanted person in the circles I'm looking around. Fancy that huh?" He finishes, tone heavy with sarcasm.

"No shit." The Enforcer throws her bags in the trunk before approaching her friend and playfully hitting him in the shoulder. Which she apparently overdid as the man winces and rubs his arm, the woman answers his annoyed glare with a smirk "Don't be a baby, and what did you expect? You screwed over how many fences those people were working with?"

"I know, I know, still, I've got to stash it somewhere, outside the city if I have to." He sighs. "I will have to throw it out otherwise."Vi rises an eyebrow at that.

"Throw away? Okay you got me curious, whatcha got there that's so bad?" She asks while walking around the mask to get into driver's seat. She can let others drive her car but not while she's around, unless she can't of course.

"Nothing... extremely bad, just a lot of it." He says as he gets into the battered vehicle and shuts the door behind him. "Little things, radio wave interceptor, independent battle AI, bugs, cipher breaking, focus and amplifier for custom laser cutters, the works."

The woman starts up the car and moves out onto the streets.

"Don't you have half of that licensed anyway? I mean you invented the current standard for radiophone so what's the big deal?" None of that sounds particularly bad, he might omit some nonsensical rules about safety and such when testing a laser outside Piltover's Scientific Industry Department but all inventors do that anyway, scared of competition stealing their work, it happens all the time so that fear is actually well founded.

"Broad length wiretapping."

She shouldn't have asked.

"Oh. Ugh, maybe- maybe we should drop the subject. I don't think I should know the details." She falls silent for a moment before adding, "I could look for a storage you could use though." If her boss ever got to know about this...

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Nice to know, what's the rush anyway?"

"Caitlyn more or less said she will get a warrant to search my laboratory soon." Vi whistles as she hears this. Cupcake getting a warrant for her little helper means a couple of things. Firstly, some high up bureaucrat rat must be looking into Jayce's case again and she wants to throw him off, and secondly, she must not have liked him getting caught and connected with anything illegal, thus the planned shakedown. To keep the city hero on his toes. Or even both, or she might be PMSing, who knows? "How long do you think?"

"A week, tops." The Enforcer laughs when she hears Jayce groan on her side. "Suck it up man, you don't even know how much stuff you can move in a day when you really have to."

"It's delicate machinery, you can't just throw it in a box and drive it without securing the package."

"Please, it's better to throw it all out then?" This gives the scientist a pause.

"Eh. Good point I guess, come to think of it I should probably ready it for transport beforehand."

No! Really?

"You know, it's amazing how for a genius you don't seem to think too far ahead. I approve."

"I don't know how much is your approval worth but I'm honestly touched."

"Hey! It's worth helping you keep all your precious inventions right?" She huffs and pauses for a moment a an idea forms in her mind. "Hey, what you say for a night out? I've got a week of big fat nothing ahead of me so don't worry about Cait this time."

Jayce winces as the memory of said last time resurfaces in his mind, when he and Vi got absolutely smashed in the middle of week, it wouldn't be such a big deal if not for the fact that his pink haired friend literally vanished for a whole day. As it happens, the Sheriff concluded it his fault that her officer did not arrive for work (not that she wasn't chewed out and flooded with work for her "irresponsible behavior", when after a whole day of search he found her still plastered and ready to board a ship to Iona). It might have only been a tongue lashing since really, what else could she actually do? (beside forcing him on a wild chase after Vi through the entire city that is).

But if someone were to say that being scolded by the Piltover's Sheriff is no big deal, Jayce would be forced to punch that person right out. To protect both his and Vi's honor. Or anyone's ever that had found himself in trouble with the raven haired beauty for that matter.

She can be downright terrifying when she wants to be, she knows just the right words and just the right tone to make a person feel like a stupid, meddling child.

She's incredible like that.

"Uh, you're absolutely sure about that?"

"Yeah, yeah. Lets just drop my stuff off and let me get ready, and get batteries in my gauntlets changed too, they got fried. Thanks for the bag again, very convenient."

"You're seriously taking them with you?" He asks incredulously.

Vi stops the car and turns in her seat to pointedly look at the Mercury Hammer lying on the backseat.

"Alright never mind. Point taken."

* * *

Expect shit to go down next chapter. Our girls are ready for a night out!

You're shitting me... 5. That's commitment to the cause right there! Thank you, whomever actually chose to participate. By the difference of 1 vote I hereby announce Vi's nickname spelling to be Fathands.

"Insert applause pls"


	10. 1 - 10

The most notorious criminal in Piltover history refuses to admit it but realizes that she probably should have stayed put for some more time. That realization hit her along with shivers when instead of hot, her body suddenly began feeling ice cold and sweaty. It was some time ago when the thought had crossed her mind and she chose to disregard it. It really isn't much different from how she usually feels, fuzzy vision, the steady hum in the back of her head, the world feeling generally off. Just magnified, no biggie. Besides, her hands don't shake too badly either so aiming won't be impossible.

Her whole body shudders suddenly, she blames it on the cold of this place, definitely not her body's fault. Nope! She takes a deep breath to still the scratching in her lungs, surprisingly, the smell is not bad, considering what place the terrorist finds herself in.

Piltover sewers are different from Zaunite ones, neat and- dare Jinx say it clean. They're like an underground road system, wide enough to actually fit in a car. Not that she tried that, or knows how to drive one for that matter. But it's important to remember in case she is forced to hide there, that it can't be done for too long. The sheriff figured out right off the bat that she moves mostly underground and on rooftops as a close second. Hence the intensified motor patrols safeguarding key points of sewerage and the military zeppelins in the sky. The insane girl encountered the actual military only once, back in Zaun. she must admit to admiring their methods, if something stands in their way they simply blow it up, making it very challenging to play with them but no less rewarding. It was one of the few times she knows to have nearly lost.

It was absolutely exhilarating.

She wonders what it would be like here in The City of Progress. But it won't happen unless she's outside Piltover as the army is apparently banned from entering the city proper- and going after an outpost is not even crazy. It's moronic, 200% assured suicide, in other words- no fun.

Still. A girl can dream, used to be Jinx had nothing but dreams.

Darkness reigning in the tunnels is only disturbed by the light given off by Zap, it's more than enough though as there is really nothing that the maniac can walk into. The pipes are attached to the tunnels walls, providing easy access in the event of a breakdown. They are also the source of constant noise, made by whatever it is that flows through them. Jinx is amazed that someone bothered to build such a system in the first place. There are even lights on the ceiling, turned off right now but come on! There must be some sort of central control for them as the blue haired girl never found a switch of any sort. In Zaun it is the tunnels themselves that serve as a sludge drain. With pipes often simply laid on the topside ground or even attached to outside buildings walls, serving only to get wastes underground. Zero fanciness like here. It's near impossible to get through the sewers because of the smell alone, the bluette puked her guts out when fleeing through them, but it wasn't the worst part, the air itself is poison there. Organic and otherwise.

Paradoxically, it's most likely the reason she is now alive, as her pursuers had neither the will nor much reason to chase her further after she made it to the sewers. She was already battered and poisoned, she couldn't possibly survive a trip through the toxic canals.

Not their finest decision but it's not like Jinx disapproves. While not her most favourite it sure was the most thrilling experience of her life, in both good and bad way at the same time.

She stops her leisure walk as she hears something in the distance, voices. The terrorist puts Zap back in his holster and grabs Pow-Pow, it's not yet the time to use Fishbones. Yes she could get rid of whatever it is she hears but where is the fun in that? Besides, she has only so much ammo on her and the party hasn't even started.

The fact that she doesn't want to stink for the rest of the night after blowing sewer pipes apart is another thing worthy of mention.

She crouches and turns head to her friend, they can barely see each other in the dim light cast by Zap from his tattered holster, she should probably make a new one, in the dark he is still very much visible despite being put away.

"Hey Fishbones, pigs or rats?" She whispers. Her bet is on smugglers, cops don't stick their noses in here too often lately.

"How late is it?" He asks in equally quiet voice. Jinx bites her lip in thought, they went underground sometime before midnight and have been making their way long enough to make her feet sore. The one for which she couldn't find a stocking especially, next one on her list, a clothing store!

"Around two I think." Maybe, she has issues measuring time, and it's even worse underground where an hour feels like three and three feel like half.

"Rats, too late for cops to patrol the sewers, they stick to the exits by now." The police used to make rounds at night but with a lot of resources redirected towards responding to her activities they had to give up, allowing other criminals easier access through the tunnels. By now the officers mostly stick to their little outposts, as the gangs got bolder and bolder in their attacks. As of yet, the psychopath didn't hear about any of those falling, and no wonder, even she can't get through. Blow it up, yeah sure but not get through. It makes for a long-ass detour to find ways around these.

"Rats it is then."

"You think we can pass them?" Stupid. Of course they can't! They won't trust her to simply walk by and for good reasons as it didn't end well for those that tried. The question here is of a different nature anyway.

"I think I don't wanna." She turns her unnervingly wide eyes forward, towards the source of ever closing clatter.

She suppresses a coming shiver.

It's been a long week, and this little trip the four of them are on, while fun is also a necessity. So it's only natural that Jinx feels more than a bit agitated and ready for action. Mentally anyway, she did get that thermometer Fishbones has been nagging her about and it stubbornly refuses to say anything lower than at least 39c. Now Jinx is in no way knowledgeable when it comes to sickness and treatment but she gathered enough to know that when that is the case, everything seems just more irritating, rougher, harder and heavier.

And clammy, though that's just the effect of intensified sweating and not something in her head.

Having some fun with a bunch of smugglers might be just the kind of thing she needs to unwind before the big hit tonight. To keep her mind... relatively clear. Clear of noise, clear of stray memories. While she cares little for both they foretell a coming headache and those she hates with passion. Being more or less incapable of relishing in her favourite activities left Jinx itching for mayhem. This? This will be a pleasant start of a wonderfully fruitful night.

"C'mon, lets see who they are." With that she stands up and tries (and fails) to remain silent while marching onwards, eventually she comes across a light, far far ahead, making her stop yet again as she ponders on her options. Well that sucks. They will see her long before she does and she has acquired a reputation of not being picky with her toys. If she's seen armed then they will shoot, if she tries to pass by them they will shot. Hm. The issue here is the light, it will blind her when Jinx steps into shooting range.

Heh, sucks to be the guy carrying it.

"Hey Zap, wanna boil this guy?" The bluette murmurs after turning her eyes toward the friend in question, who simply gives off a happy vibe as an answer. She grins. "You're the best, make it count."

She puts Fisbones horizontally on the ground, whips the energy pistol out, then lies flat on her stomach behind her rocket launcher, shivering slightly at the contact with the cold, wet concrete and puts Zap's barrel into the crook of rocket launcher's fin to stabilize the shot. Jinx rests her gaze on the ring indicating how powerful the shock is supposed to be and turns it to maximum. The power supply is self replenishing, made so by a miniature hextech engine that sucks the energy from surrounding magic. Supposedly. Jinx is no different than vast majority of both Zaun and Piltover population in that respect and can't feel nor see it as magicians do. But it works so there has to be some merit to it.

Using this kind of power still won't kill anyone with just one hit unless the shot hits an eye or open would but it will carry further. The minus of that is around half a minute taking the battery to recharge So she has only one try, good enough.

It's not like she has to hit the flashlight itself after all.

Jinx adjusts Pow-Pow on her side so that he doesn't bother her as she lines up the shot. Still too far away, she groans, not really caring if she alarms the other criminals. They will see the dim light from the accelerator anyway, that's when the game will start.

For now she waits, and listens as the voices come closer and she recognizes them as male. Two of them, so at least two people, though probably more than that simply busy with being silent.

"-to me that we should just get the goods and bail from the city, ain't gonna do us any good when we wind up dying cause of some crazy chick."

"You think they're talking 'bout us?" She whispers.

A silent but trademark squeaking of cart wheels can be heard over the conversation.

"Do you care?" Maybe.

"-while they're busy. Ratways weren't this clean for years, we got more money last month than whole last year, business' flowin'!

"Nah. Not really." They're nothing to her, caring is stupid anyway.

"-like seven gangs, jus' like that! Jus'... fuck man this is shit place to be right now." Jinx snorts as she thinks about the stuff flowing in the pipes around them. He's wrong though, there is no better place to be in right now, it marks the beginning of her game for tonight. And the ending of boredom that lasted for the whole week.

"Man the fuck up. You wanna waste your life getting' nothin' outta it be my guest. I'm gonna make the most of this." HAH! Sucks to be you then. "You can leave any time you want and any- you see this?"

The grin on Jinx's face takes a manic edge as the owner of said smile realises it's time for the show to start. She still can't see who nor how many hide behind the light but it doesn't matter. She stabilizes her quivering arm as much as she can and then pulls the trigger. Her eyes hurt from looking at the bright projectile but they follow it nonetheless, all the way to its destination, somewhere on the right side of the light.

The scream that follows the tell tale sound of the energy bolt hitting its target lasts not even a second as the man passes out along with the flashlight he is convulsively holding onto even as he falls to the ground. The silence doesn't last as it is interrupted by general racket of weapons being raised, aimed and shot.

Yeah, definitely more than two people. Jinx leaves Zap lying behind Fishbones so that he doesn't give up her position and rolls over to the wall, annoyed at herself for not taking Pow-Pow off too as he jabs all his edges into her skin.

The girl's side hits pipes after rolling twice and she presses herself into them as much as possible, still lying flat on the ground to evade the bullets whirling over her head and ricocheting in every direction. The rush it gives her, not knowing whether or not a stray bullet will hit her is exhilarating. The fire bursting from guns barrels entrances her.

But there are things to take care of if she is to win this little game of theirs. She can count three riffles and a gun firing. So four left. Not much of a challenge at all, with their 'lucky' aiming anyway. Dumb suckers, too much noise, not that Jinx doesn't appreciate some (a lot of) noise but she knows when and when not to cause it. They know their enemy is ahead, they knows she's not firing, they don't know if they hit or not, neither can they see her, but it works both ways. They're panicking, stupid, stupid thing to do, to feel.

Beautiful to see.

"Stop! Stop!" No! Don't stop! "Give me a fucking flare!" Oops.

That won't do. Then again, this too works both ways, or one if timed right. Just the right moment to stand, just the right moment to shoot and it is them who will be blinded, and more than that, in her sight. While she is hidden in the dark and by their own blinded eyes.

But she has to be fast and she can still be hit by a stray shot if someone manages to get a hang of himself and shoot in direction of gunfire, and that much they will see.

So she will be quick.

Eyes wide with excitement- and grin threatening to split her face she bolts upright and dashes forward to get into effective shooting range of her minigun, switching Pow-Pow to his firing mode while running. She feels light, as if she barely weights anything, her breath hitches as her entire world becomes restricted to the tunnel before her, and four gunners inside it.

The bluette slides to a stop just as a red light goes off, momentarily blinding the entire group of criminals, three men and a woman- who readied their weapons and kept them trained at the dark tunnel as they heard the thumping of Jinx's boots. The one with said flare in hand is nearly ready to throw it, halfway through the swing already.

Too slow. Way too slow.

A hailstorm of bullets pulverises his insides, leaving a good chunk of his chest a bloody mush as the man himself is sent stumbling back, fighting for breath that his brain has not yet registered will never come. His face, Jinx sees- is filled more with shock than anything else. Probably didn't feel a thing yet.

But no time to look, while two other figures glance at their still falling comrade, the third on the right squints her eyes as she tries to negate the effect of the flare that just began slipping from the hand of her leader. She's better than the other two, and so will die as the second. It takes Jinx only a speck of a moment to adjust her aim. she did not expect the cold tremor that is suddenly sent through her body, making her miss the entire burst. Her smile morphs into a sinister grimace.

But no time to be angry, the flare is now in mid-fall to the ground and other two criminals are now getting out of the shock after seeing their companion pulverized. Taking aim at Jinx while the third Rat shoots her gun where she just saw her.

But she is already elsewhere, with finger on the trigger and aim taken on the man who was supposed to be dying a second ago. But it's just one second, nothing she can't handle. The other two would already be dead though and this is something to take care of.

Pieces of brain splatter on walls and the two who are left standing as a stream of bullets rips holes in head of The Loose Cannon's assailant. Her comrades don't even seem to notice by now. Jinx is close enough to see terror their eyes, with constricted pupils and faces an image of blind panic. They know exactly who is it they deal with by now and fear, while not paralysing- is slowing their reactions.

The flare hits the ground along with the first still dying body, which just now realises what happened and lets itself know just how much pain it is in. The man wants to scream but all that comes out of his throat is gurgling and blood.

And what are they afraid of? Dying? Everyone dies sometime!

It's not like they have any chances of beating the maniac anyway, they are simply too slow, their every shot hit just short of its destined mark, always lacking this fraction of a second their brains need to catch up with the rest of the body.

Time that their opponent uses to its full extend, nearly closing the gap between them and throwing herself into slide while simultaneously trying to aim in the last two rats standing. One is caught in the wide barrage of fire coming from Pow-Pow, making him curl in half as a couple of bullets plow through his stomach. Not dead yet, but not a threat either.

The woman with her brain missing hits the pipes and the body bounces away in direction of the ground, her pistol still in tight grip.

Jinx let her weapon go, knowing she has to keep moving, and there is no time to stand up, instead she awkwardly crouches, not quite managing the smooth translation from her slide. But it doesn't matter anymore as she is close enough to throw herself at the last man. The barrel of his riffle is trained straight at her. The dead woman hits the ground and the guy who's guts are nothing but pulp falls to his knees, dropping the riffle and trying in vain to stop the bleeding. Not that it would matter any if he succeeded. The scrawny girl's mind barely registers that she's about to be shot.

It doesn't come.

Jinx rams into the other lawbreaker without really expecting to. The back of his head hits the cart behind him, the impact leaving the man stunned and sliding down to the ground while his assailant is send tumbling back, onto the one that tried to throw the flare.

Get up.

She scrambles to her feet and glances around in search of more entertainment whilst breathing heavily. Dead, dying, dying and screaming, out cold. She winces at the wailing coming from the last conscious member of this little group.

"Shut up." She snarls but the addressed man pays no attention, stubbornly making all these annoying sounds. "I said shut up!" But he doesn't.

It's like he's trying to rile her up. And well, he succeeds with flying colors as irked girl steps on another one of her victim's wrist to make it loosen it's death grip on the gun. Jinx does understand that the woman may not want to part with her weapon, she really does but it doesn't mean she has to be a prick about it. The maniac rips the gun out of dead hand and not sparing a second thought to it, finishes off the screaming man. She throws the weapon away and looks upon her handiwork again.

It's a mess.

The pools of blood just begin appearing beneath the bodies, for now soaking up in her victims' clothes, there are pieces of brain and bone splattered haphazardly all around, the picture makes for a sinister image, even more so with in red light cast by still burning flare. Jinx begins brushing herself off the dirt that gathered on her skin and clothes in the firefight, she blinks a couple of times after encountering quite a lot of blood mixed with sweat on her legs, probably from the dying guy she landed on afterwards.

Another shudder shots through her body.

"Bleh." Blood stains are a pain in the ass, she can't exactly drop her laundry off anywhere. She doesn't mind the smell so much but it's how sticky everything covered in gore gets that irritates her. Not much to do about it now, she wipes her bloody hands into already dirty shorts, managing to clean them a little.

"You okay there?!" Shouts Fishbones from the distance. Of course she is, he should stop asking stupid questions and insinuating things. As if she could be anything but okay.

"Yeah, I'm good!" She shouts back and puffs cheeks out, crouching beside the riffle which the last of the rats for some reason did not shoot. She picks it up and aims at said man's head. She hears a click over the flare's hiss. Huh, empty. That one second mishap would take her life if it wasn't for pure luck. She snorts and throws the weapon away as she loses interest in the man, then walks towards the cart, curious about its content. "Just checking something!"

"Okay, just be careful, we got your back here!" Oh yeah sure, whenever she trusted him to make good on this promise something always came from direction which he was supposed to guard. Jinx knows he can't really shoot anyone without her help for obvious reasons but come on! He never even warns her when something happens!

With curiosity painted on her face, she leans over the cart's edge only to huff in disappointment. Just drugs. They're nowhere near as fun as blowing stuff up and they leave her head a serious mess. The first time she tried she didn't think much of it, she was stuffed with crap of similar nature for as long as she could remember. Jinx was most excited as she had been told that their effect was exactly the opposite to what she was treated her whole life. Feel good her ass. And nobody cared that for once it wasn't her fault she blew up the gang's hideout, she got kicked out anyway. And the girl wouldn't mind too much, even counting in the terrible headache and other strange side effects if she only remembered what exactly happened. Cause all she ever brought out of it was seeing the ruins left behind and not how they happened to come into being.

It wasn't one time thing either.

Freaking unfair.

She pushes herself away from the wagon and walks back to her weapons, picking the flare for light and kicking the guy who carried flashlight in his side on her way.

So much better. Finding simple pleasures in life really is important.

"Sorry for dropping you like that." She murmurs quietly to Pow-Pow as she throws his strap back over her shoulder and after reaching the other two, she wordlessly puts Fishbones on her back and discards the nearly burnt out flare in favor of Zap's dim light once again.

"What's wrong?" Asks the rocket launcher. She wipes sweat from forehead, only dirtying it more with blood left on her hands.

"Nothing." Nothing much. She rolls her shoulders and with displeasure notices that her body begins to feel like somebody is heating it up. Again. It happens up to couple times an hour, this change from ice cold to radiator and back. And the stupid shivers stay anyway.

"You seem down, really, what happened?" Sweet idiot.

"Nothing, just- I get to start the party early and they have go to ruin it. Thought maybe they were dragging something useful but no! Just stupid dust." That and the memories.

They pass the massacre site, sparing a glance at the battered men, the pool of blood a lot bigger now and mixed with piss, (from what Jinx's nose tells her) it is staining her boots, connecting all the bodies in one big puddle. There is no more gurgling and it seems like the man Zap hit is turning a darker shade, Jinx can't tell what color, violet probably. Must have hit the ground in a bad way, or maybe it was the kick- and he's now suffocating thanks to his tongue refusing air its entrance. She turns away and keeps walking, disinterested in fate of broken toys.

Shortly afterwards they come to a stop when the tunnel splits.

"Ugh... remember where we are?" She forgot, too much excitement to remember such trivial things.

"Give me a moment. Erm. I think we've got two kilometres left till we're under the opera."

"Opera? Weren't we going to get the zoo?" Weren't they? She wanted to visit zoo on their way to the university since it's both a good choke point and she could make some real chaos releasing animals there.

"We were. But you said you want to break that mean lady who called you an uncouth rascal."

Oh yeah, that.

"Screw that, I wanna go to the zoo."

"...okay uhm... we are somwehere-"

"I remember now," Jinx cuts in "This tunnel right, then right, left, right, right, left, right and left, three kilometres. Ish. We gotta pick up the pace or we're gonna do squat tonight." With that they both fall silent and Jinx starts running.

* * *

The bar Vi and Jayce chose is a fairly popular place, or used to be. One couldn't tell by the amount of customers inside but compared to some other establishments this one is packed. What with current crime being a real threat. People prefer to stay home during night, because of Jinx as much as other rampaging criminals that follow in her wake.

Most of the time this would be an annoyance for both as they tend to split their ways halfway through the night, neither alone. Tonight though they decided to simply enjoy their lazy downtime as while feeling good enough, Vi knows that a night of clubbing is not a brightest idea after just leaving hospital. That wouldn't stop her from drinking that particular sorrow into oblivion but her friend insists that she really shouldn't just yet, she suspects that the real cause is different to the one he gave but complies anyway, she can do that once in a while.

Both of them dressed casually in their favorite leather jackets that they once picked for the other. Truth to be told Vi came out better in that deal as it is Jayce who has some actual sense of style.

She eyes the straw in her drink and snorts, drawing her companion's attention away from listening the pianist on scene.

"Just remembered a conversation I had with Karen the other day, you know, the one from administration wing." Jayce assumes he remembers, not right now but he might a moment from now. It's almost the same.

"Care to share?"

"Meh, just a daylight's burglary, funny thing is how we just brush it off as unimportant these days. Our guys caught the sucker but he was an idiot. Like, smeared his face with chalk and thought it would mask him or something."

"Tell me about unimportant, did I tell you about the insurance for my lab?" He has a strong suspicion that he did though can't exactly pinpoint why over the buzzing in his head.

"Twice tonight, hey, what do you say about going to casino?"

Gears no.

"And search for you for the rest of tomorrow? Ugh, today? And hangover? And the last time I lost all my... Nah I think I will pass."

"You know the saddest thing about that? I don't remember it and it must've been fucking hilarious." She pouts. "Nope, I only remember being chewed out by Cait for that crap, I still not even sure what I've done!"

"Maybe that's better, must have been pretty embarrassing."

"Yeah but I'd still like to know. It's like- like beating a dog, like an hour after it pissed on the carpet you know?" Jayce tries to follow that train of thought and decides that he doesn't in fact know.

"Uh..."

"Exactly! Hey, we should visit Ez, didn't he get back from Kalamanda like uh... yesterday?" Hm, he did actually, he was exploring the mines there, looking for possible dangers burried in the caverns. The boy really gets around, he's known all across Valoran and at such a young age, if he doesn't die on one of his adventures he'll be a storybook character by the age of fifty. The inventor glances at the clock hanging on wall.

"You know, I think we should." Maybe it's the alcohol talking but it seems like a funny thing to do, dropping by and interrupting his well earned rest at two-thirty AM. Or work, who knows. The kid keeps odd hours, often foregoing whole nights of sleep to study legends and maps at the university close to which he has his apartment. It's difficult to tell where his home is, at university or in his house. Or if he really has home at all. He only comes to the city when preparing for his next venture.

"Of course we do, come on." She abruptly stands up, grabs the holdall with her gauntlets and storms off towards entrance, leaving Jayce to pick up the tab, which he does without complaint. As always.

He's a gentleman after all.

* * *

Caitlyn yawns behind hand as she sorts through the shakedown reports coming from docks. Sleep in the afternoon she might but boredom can get anyone at any time. She doesn't have to pay much attention to her current task however as the operation is from the looks of it a full success. Her subordinates had found enough hard evidence and witnesses for the case to be basically ready for forwarding to prosecution.

Still, she has to at least glance over it just in case. It's her job to keep in touch with everything.

The whole op was not particularly difficult, due to general decline in weariness of Piltover Crime World ever since Jinx showed up, this fact coupled with said crime increased audacity led to quick and effective dispatching of it when The Force was given a breather in terrorist's activity. Even Sheriff herself is surprised at just how quick. Granted, the warrants were all ready to be used, cases prepared and waiting for forwarding, it's just that police lacked the manpower, with so many of its assets used to handling Jinx. Most of the operation was simply apprehending the criminals.

Hm.

She wonders how fast exactly would it go were Vi at her disposal.

Vi. She was to get out of the hospital today, or rather yesterday evening if she remembers correctly. She still has a week off and knowing her she is likely to be indulging that fact right this very moment. Possibly with Jayce. She thought once that they would end up as a couple, so at ease they seem around each other and so much they care for the other. That is before she learned of her enforcer's preferences, which at first made her quite uneasy but she got over it quickly. It is not her business what anyone chooses to make of their lives as long as it doesn't affect others. Her disapproval for certain aspects of her life aside, Vi is a good person, if rough around the edges, or simply said uncouth.

She smiles wryly at the thought of rags writing about an outrageous relationship between the Defender of Tomorrow and the Enforcer, were she normal in any case (not that she reads this kind of thing, but they've been on the prowl for information on her life for years now, Caitlyn supposes it gives her a sort of malignant relief when this happens to others).

Her eyes skim through another page and stop on the notification from initial interrogations about an illegal ammo stock being attacked and robbed two weeks ago, three bodies and four wounded if the data is correct. She puts it away for further investigation, already knowing the cause of said burglary. The traffickers affected are already arrested, she doubts they will learn anything useful on the perpetrator herself but she's not exactly given many options. It is by no means a pattern that there are survivors as Jinx kills seemingly depending on mood. Sometimes everyone, at times nobody.

She notices that she has been spinning the pen between fingers and puts it away, deciding to let her fingers and mind rest a little.

At least it is another trace to follow in the massive shakedown. Four wounded must have been treated somewhere, not in a legal clinic as they would have been interrogated and her subordinates notified. The likelihood of Jinx being involved would eventually put the case in her hands. As it is, there are possibly another four criminals to be caught and a doctor working for the criminal underground to be found. Now, whom to assign for this...

She is broken out of her reverie by a sudden knocking at her door. She begins speaking to allow entrance but stops as the door fly open and a little winded officer barges inside her office without even closing behind himself. Caitlyn straightens up in her seat, not at all filled with optimism as to whatever is happening if she is to judge on base of the way she is informed about it.

"What is it?" She asks sternly, the sheriff had long ago discovered that people in general will pull themselves together faster if met with authority and certainty. She is both. The man snaps a salute before responding.

"There's a bombing in the zoo. Some three minutes ago."

Jinx?

Who else? While rampant, no other criminal would dare to pull off a bombing, not without knowing what kind of response would it elicit. It figures actually, Vi got out of hospital yesterday, it was too much to hope for that the terrorist would take longer than her subordinate to recover.

It was not too much to hope for however, that the mad girl would not kick off with a bang.

The woman scowls and stands up.

"Go get comms centre in go, they are to send orders to half city patrols to close off streets and get sewers locked down, and fast this time. The other half are to be a look-out." She moves to the door and grabs her hat off the hatstand and riffle off the stand. "Get response group to the garage ASAP, briefing en route. Zeppelin's on its way yes?"

"Yes."

"Good, now move."

* * *

"I feel like I could get lost in here. I mean I've been here before but this is retarded." Concludes Vi as she follows Jayce, supposedly to library where they've been told Ezreal spends his night. They wouldn't have been let in either were it not for Futureboy, whose membership in PSID allows him free access to any facilities at any time. The pinkette's police badge could probably do the same but not with both of them faintly smelling of smoke and alcohol. He even has a place on a separate, guarded parking lot, bastard.

Heh, though she can park in restricted areas to make up for it.

"You can get used to it. I had navigation issues too once." Oh yeah? Smartass.

"And a university membership."

"And a couple years here yeah that's true." Ass. In a way. He sometimes brings up why won't she attend the university to further refine her skills and it's not that she can't, she just doesn't see the point. The enforcer is as good mechanic as any, testament to which lies in the bag hung over her shoulder. Jayce decided to leave his hammer in the car, unconcerned for its safety, maybe because he trusts the guard and a dozen security bots there. Maybe he just doesn't care enough.

"Why is it this complicated anyway? I mean Yordle Academy is rather straightforward." And it is, lecture halls, classes, offices and laboratories fitted into two massive buildings, but with simpler architecture and more diverse design where one would have to truly be hopeless to have issues finding his destination.

"It's old. I think it was a mansion once, like Noxian ones." Oh yeah that makes it so much more clear.

"You mean?"

"It's supposed to be hard to navigate for strangers." And it is, mostly because of its monotone and rounded design, Vi feels like she's going in circles even though door plates clearly say otherwise. "Ah, here we are." He suddenly stops and opens an inconspicuous looking door. The pinkette whistles. Not the first time it may be but the sight is no less impressive.

"Did you guys build another floor?"

It's enormous. Bookshelves upon bookshelves climbing at least thirty metres high, with wooden footbridges every three meters in between shelves so massive that they need to be bolted together and to walls simply not to fall apart. The chamber is rotund and the only space bare of books is a still quite spacious reading area in the middle from which spiral stairs lead to platforms above, built every second floor- that also function as reading areas so that people can actually fit inside and not waste time walking from the top to the ground floor. Windows do little to brighten this place even at day and its entirety is lit by white lamps placed above heads every couple steps.

"Yes actually, a month ago. Come on." He motions her inside while holding the door, after rolling eyes at his display, the enforcer complies though as she knows it's stronger than him. And she doesn't really mind either.

They walk through the alleys in silence, Jayce admiring the grandeur of the great hall, but one of many sections that Piltover University Library consists of. And this is only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Most of materials gathered, are stored in the magazine beneath their feet, at least thirce the amount of what can be seen here. Vi on the other hand is wondering which fences could possibly find interest in materials gathered here. Force of habit for her, appraising worth of whatever she happens to lay eyes upon. She is quite embarrassed to say that she can't really hazard a guess, oh there are people who would, there always are. It's just that she never heard of them as her thefts rarely involved anything else but technology and machinery.

In spite of late hours there are still people present, students mostly, sitting in the reading section and copying text required from books they've found. Helper bots are stationed in pairs near every entrance to alleys, ready to serve the needs at every hour of every day, each programmed with the library's layout, and nothing else really. While constructors struggle to introduce a multi-purpose bot- their efforts prove to bore no fruit as of yet. As those robots tend to misinterpret commands given to them as something else from another section of their 'brains'. Suffice to say that after initial trials there have been no legal tests of mixing battle bots with any other.

It's one of the things in which Zaun is leagues ahead of Piltover, basically leaving The City of Progress in dust, its greatest breakthrough in this field being a murderous Lady of Clockwork which nobody is capable of reproduction with its creator's demise.

Zaun on the other hand has Viktor. Mad or not, methods despicable or not his research into robotics has brought breakthroughs in the field as a near regular occurrence. And most of it comes as offshots from his obsession with improving the biological organisms. Mental state aside, he is a genius and not even Jayce says otherwise amidst many things he does say about the cyborg.

Vi wondered once, briefly- mind. What would happen if these two teamed up, with Pitoverian's expertise on theory and Zaunian's on machinery to bring their designs into life, with the unlimited power source that Jayce absolutely refuses to build again.

The conclusion she came to was that she is really glad that her friend was born in Piltover.

The duo comes to a stop under inner circle of a footbridge between the ground floor and first platform.

"You think he's still here?" Asks Vi. It's nearing third and she wouldn't be caught dead in such a place at this time. Even though she can see people still working here, she finds it hard to imagine Ezreal doing the same. She knows he does it out of necessity for his travels but still, his energy just seems out of place here.

"Well not here," he answers after glancing over tables and their occupants. "Lets check the upper-"

"Hey Ezreal! You here!?"

Jayce winces as eyes of everyone and even bots land on them, conveying respectively annoyance and question. It's a good thing that the librarian is not present at this hour, they wouldn't get thrown out quite yet but-

"Vi?!" Carries a voice from the very top. A moment later a blond head can be seen sticking over the railing, though its owner apparently can not see them. "What are you doing here?!"

Yeah well now they would be.

"Vi, could you-" the brunet starts but is cut off.

"Looking for you you idiot! Wait up, we're coming!"

"We?! Like who?!" Honestly, it's like these two never were in a library before.

"Me and Jayce! Just wait up!" She shouts back walks over to staircase and starts climbing, jumping three steps at a time.

The city idol smiles nervously as an answer to the accusatory glares directed at him for bringing his friend with him, not seeing a way to come out of this smoothly he just hems and follows the pinkette.

Flawless.

He catches up to her after passing the first platform.

"Could you please not do that?" He asks. She turns to him with raised eyebrows.

"Do what?" Really?

"Shout, it's a library, you know, a silent place." She laughs at that.

"And since when are you so quiet?" Vi thinks about how he almost acts when talking, like he is giving a performance, gesticulating and loud.

"I try to be here, got kicked out too many times." She snorts. Imagining her proud friend curling his tail underneath him and complying with some old lady's orders. Though it wouldn't really be surprising to see, he just can't say no if pressed hard enough and respects elders too much for his own good. In addition to being a bleeding heart.

She must admit though that some of the things he does are... touching, really. Like when he visits an old lady that he helped get groceries home a long time ago to simply keep her company. And he does that because he genuinely cares. It pulls on something inside of her that she can't really pinpoint.

"Okay, okay. Sorry, I'll be good." Her companion rolls eyes at her and the conspirational whisper she decided to use.

Before long they reach the top and find somewhat disheveled looking Ezreal flipping through maps he laid out on a big table he made out of couple smaller ones. Books of folklore and history scattered on and under their surface, beside a half empty tea bottle. Jayce tuts mockingly at the miniature chaos after shaking hands with the younger man.

"She'd kill you if she knew you know?" The inventor points out. And he might not even be exaggerating too much if he knows the librarian as well as he thinks he does.

"Why do you think I'm here at this-" the Explorer doesn't finish as he finds himself being crushed in Vi's bear hug, one that makes his ribs crackle. He coughs a couple times after being released and with a crooked smile turns to his pink headed tormentor. "Hi to you too wimp, grown some fat in the hospital huh?" He laughs even though being playfully punched in arm by the human shaped wrecking ball is not exactly pleasant. Something that only said woman seems not to realize and nobody ever reprimanded her for.

"Laugh it off, just you wait till we spar again and then we will talk about who's being a wimp." The boy winces as he massages his arm, recalling the last time she delivered on her promise, or threat. It's not easy to say when it comes to Vi and punching things.

"Can't wait, though it probably won't happen for some time yet, a few more days and I'm off again."

"Really? You just came back." Says Jayce, disappointment evident in his voice.

"Yeah I'm on a clock these days, got more contracts than I can even agree to take. Whatever, listen, help me pack this up and- no! Not you Vi, some of this is older than us three combined and I'm a dead man if She gets the wind I damaged this." The pink headed woman just waves hand at this blatant lack of faith in her capability to handle something delicate but doesn't argue. The inventor moves along with the explorer and begins methodically folding the maps and stacking books while Vi gently lays down her bag and sits down on a chair to watch their progress.

"So what is it this time? Still looking for Icathia?" He was the last time she asked, he also wanted to find these two men rumored to have found the ancient city, Kassadin and Malazar? Mazar? Whatever, she'd approach neither if the stories about them are even partially true.

"Always looking for it but no, not this time. It's Freljord, my uncle says he needs my help there. Something's going on in the north and I'm curious what exactly." He flashes his friends a crooked smile. "And besides, uncle found many artifacts just on the surface of his site, who knows what's beneath. Sore about the cold though, it's really far up north."

"Ugh, cold. You really know how to pick your holidays," butts in Jayce. "I was in Rakelstake once, charming place, people wear less clothing than we do here. Insane."

"Can't be that bad then, if Lyte can cope then so can I."

"That's cause of his wrinkled, fat ass, you gotta put some on before you go." Smirks Vi.

"You know, sometimes I don't know if you're trying to mock me or not, and what's this anyway?" The blond youth points at her duffel.

"My gauntlets, Jayce got me a bag for them." The older man turns his eyes away as the younger one directs his amused eyes at him.

"For real? She will never part with them now. You remember what happened when she had to leave them at home for a week? It's unhealthy."

"Don't remind me." Futureman murmurs.

"Hey! It wasn't that bad."

"You were like a pissed off wasp." Ezreal adds with a shit eating grin.

"I could've needed them."

"Uh huh, yeah right, I'm just waiting for names now." That stings the target of the boy's teasing.

"Not cool man." A little too close to a certain person to be so.

"Huh? What do you- oh, shit- sorry I didn't mean it like that."

An uncomfortable silence fall over them for a moment before Ezreal breaks it.

"So um... how is this mess with Jinx going?" It's not like it could possibly get more awkward.

* * *

"Closed? Whacha mean closed?" Asks the gore covered girl.

"Closed until six AM. Sorry miss." Answers the door. Clearly lacking survival instinct of any sort that would kick in in any other person at the sight of the loopsided grin spreading on Jinx's face

"Oh boy." Murmurs Fishbones.

* * *

The sudden sound of an alarm stills all the activity going on in the room. The trio freezes for a moment before Vi shots upright.

"First day! First fucking day and this shit already!" Alarmed voices can be hard below them, she drops beside her bag and pulls out the gauntlets.

"What is that?" Asks visibly startled Ezreal.

"Hell if I know, fire, bombing maybe. Jayce, you know the difference?" She can never recall which is which when it matters (Cait will drill her HARD if she ever catches on), but maybe he does.

"Three short bursts, it's a bomb one."

Fuck. Of all the times it could happen it's when they're basically without gear.

"I need to meet up with security force we deployed here." She puts the gauntlets on ground and slides hands into them, when they are firmly placed she hits the switch inside and they lock around her arms. "Med leave my ass, can't just let it go."

"What do we do?" Jayce voices the question hanging in the air. Vi bites her lip in thought and turns to the blonde.

"You got your sparkly thing with you?"

"The amulet, I always do."

"Then come with me, you're a better shot with that thing than most of The Force is with guns, we can use you, just... don't die on me or I'll get my ass kicked so bad I will never sit again."

"And me?" Jayce asks and she can't help but smile, despite the situation.

"You what? Where is your hammer again? In a safe place?"

'Just you try to tease me about my gauntlets again.'

"Get it and join up, got it."

The Piltover Enforcer stands up and rolls her shoulders.

"Come on! Lets kick some ass!"

* * *

She thinks on the situation as the fire from the cafeteria reflects in her eyes, it's disappearing, slowly but surely as firemen pour more and more water into the flames. Her hands unconsciously clench into fists only to loosen up every now and again.

This is wrong, just not fitting into the way Jinx does bombings. Arrival took Caitlyn some twenty minutes after receiving the emergency. And to her surprise- nothing happened in the meanwhile. There has been a bombing along with an electrocuted guard, and apparently 'somebody' let animals out of their cages. That is it. Fire is being contained right now and her people mostly assist handlers in getting animals back in their pits and cages.

It is closing to an hour and it seems like it's been a hit and run sort of operation. The unfortunate man that was this night shift guard was moved to a hospital and will be questioned later, though the sheriff has a good idea of what had happened already. It's confusing as her suspect is not known for being the stealthy type, there should be more damage, more fire. And more tracks to follow.

As it is, it looks that the bomber simply arrived, planted explosives and left, letting animals out without any pattern whatsoever while leaving the zoo. There is also a reported skirmish in the sewers over course of which an officer had been wounded but the attempt at crossing a crossroad had been thwarted. Unfortunately, the culprit was not seen, only weapons, an energy gun and a minigun.

It does not really take much effort to figure out who were they fighting.

But it leaves the woman wondering as to what was the purpose in this attack. Then again, for all she knows, reason is the last thing on the terrorist's mind.

Without any need for so many officers on site, she sent most of them into the tunnels and to patrol the streets for sightings of any suspicious activity, leaving just enough to secure the perimeter and gather whatever evidence left. Meaning simply documenting the damage done

Caitlyn herself already recreated the whole situation. The culprit arrives through the severs, to which an open hatch was left but a street across from zoo's entrance, the criminal must clearly have been unconcerned by the possibility of leaving traces behind. She will get a testimony of the zoo guard when he wakes up but it most likely was as simple as the terrorist knocking on door of his post after crossing the wall, as it was inside it where he was found unconscious and having trouble with breathing. She is not sure about how much time did the bomber spent before the explosions, but not much afterwards.

This is where her reasoning fails, Jinx always stuck around to admire her work and 'play' with her pursuers. That is not the case now, if it is her and Caitlyn is sure of that because honestly. Who else would arrive at a zoo in the middle of the night just to let animals out of their cages and blow a cafeteria up?

Well... animal activists might but they would also try to steal the animals away, which did not as a point of fact happen. Also, the encounter in the sewers later on leaves that option dead.

She sent more people to scour the tunnels but doesn't expect much, she did that before and while they managed to find the probable entrance point, they are scattered all across the city, making it impossible to deduce the area in which Jinx most often operates. And they never managed to catch up to her underground. There isn't much else to do though.

She is brought out of her musings by an officer whom arrival she nearly missed, lost in her thoughts.

"Sheriff, there's an emergency on the university grounds."

Another one?

"Do we have details?"

"A bomb alert went off somewhere on campus, nothing more for now."

A coincidence? Unlikely, besides- it changes nothing. And another attack this soon after first one might explain the rush that the culprit was in.

"Get all the shifts assigned for University protection up and running, I want them there now. Turn the response teams back and to campus, they are to make sure nobody gets out without my permission. They are not to go inside, understood? And move forces in the sewers to close off every tunnel around university." What they need is to trap the bomber inside and slowly, precisely tighten their grasp on her, without a way to escape.

"Yes sheriff." He snaps a salute and hurries off to pass on her orders.

She turns back to look at the fire before sighing and correcting the setting of her hat, suddenly feeling like it is too heavy.

* * *

Whoa, epic long chap, such proud, much wow.

I thought that I'd fit the confrontation between our heroes here but when I hit 9k word mark I knew I had to release this. So here! Enjoy.


	11. 1 - 11

"Oookay, lets see..." drawls Jinx as her eyes skim over the main hall, sipping from a soda can and looking for any and all hints as to where could she possibly look for her treasures. The layout is rather unfamiliar but simple enough at a first glance. Reception, benches, just three hallways, not counting the one she just went through. Wait, is that another vending machine? And with jellies? This is amazing!

Her eyes sweep the signs posted on walls in every hallway as she walks closer to this marvel of engineering.

Energetics, environment engineering and physics, yeah no. Electricity, chemistry, mechatronics... maybe. Robotics, transport, electronics and informatics development. Ugh.

So much stuff to choose! Sour, two flavours, chemistry, two flavour sour, with cream, electronics or robotics, with jam, coated in sugar... She flips her bag open to see how many packets she can fit inside. Well she did get rid of most bombs... should be enough for-

The girl winces when the shrill sound of alarm bells begins its wailing. She throws the still half full can away.

"Okay, okay- sheesh I get it! We gotta pick up the pace. Fishbones!" She shouts as she backs up a bit while activating Pow-Pow and training him on the glass of vending machine.

"Yeah?"

"I say chemistry, it should have something like explosives sub right?"

"I guess. You know where the labs are?"

"Nope!" She pulls the trigger.

* * *

"Enforcer?What are you-?" Begins the assigned lieutenant of security as Vi lets herself into the control room, where she has been told the man is contacting headquarters. Ezreal follows shortly behind, curiously glancing around at the people manning radio stations and what seems to be some kind of warning system. The young woman marches closer to the chief, still holding radiophone's handle close to his ear. "Never mind, just- wait." He addresses her and with that his attention goes back to the conversation which new arrivals have interrupted and to the man who has just finished furiously typing a report on the machine and is now giving it to his boss. Vi does as told, she's not about to cut in command call. Her blonde friend sits himself in an empty chair, waiting for her.

"Yes, she's here, yes" he grabs the paper sheet and quickly skims through its content. "suspect's movements erratic, broke into chemistry research section rooms one, two and seven and couple classrooms as of-" his gaze moves to a new red diode" and laboratories as of now. Eighty, snipers taking positions now, all exits cut off already. New orders? Understood." He mentions the pinkette to come closer and holds out the handle for her to take. "Sheriff on line, I'll be at the site entrance." He quickly moves out of the room after Vi takes the phone in gauntlet clad hand.

"Hello Cait." She says lightly, as if bringing a pack of doughnuts to the office, wanting brighten her boss' day as she sometimes does. For some reason Caitlyn never eats her own pastries, even though she gifts them to friends on occasion.

"What are you doing there Vi?" She winces, her boss' voice is tense, cold. But not angry, small mercies.

"I was in the library, with Jayce and Ez, alarm went off so I came to see what's going on." Well that's it really, all she needs to know anyway, because lets face it. She doesn't need to know that her subordinate is at the moment just a slightly bit tipsy. How would that help her in any way? It sure doesn't hamper her any.

Few seconds pass before a reply comes.

"There was a hit in the zoo already, tonight, a distraction I think, I sent half the force on chase throughout the city and it will take time before they all get in place. Long time. I'll be there in thirty, already on way. Do not let her escape." Her? Of course it would be her.

"It's Jinx right? I'll get her don't-"

"No! Listen, this isn't her normal game, it's a hit and run. She's looking for something and doesn't want to be disturbed. The zoo is almost untouched." What? No wonder Caitlyn is unnerved. Strange it may be to worry about lesser damage but it is rather weird given who's done it.

"Okay so what should I do? And I've got Ez and Jayce here to help." if Futureboy hauls his ass here quick enough to actually join up.

"Keep her in the building, laboratories are underground, I don't want a repeat of the treasury so don't corner her, just don't let her go. Can you give me Jayce?"

"Uh, no, he's getting his hammer now. I've got Ez here though." The man in question gives Vi his undivided attention at hearing his own name being possibly discussed.

"Alright, Jayce goes with you and give me Ezreal in a moment, I've got something different for him. First tell me, are you well enough to do it?"

"Of course I-" She begins confidently but is not allowed to finish.

"Vi." This one word she speaks softer, letting her concern shine through.

"...Yeah, I mean- I might get tired faster and I'm still a bit" A lot "sore but that's it. Relax."

She can almost hear Caitlyn's thoughts in the silence that follows.

"Alright then, go. And please be careful."

* * *

What a waste of time, what sort of idiot, what kind of cruel mentally retarded cripple built this place? It's for yordles, they don't need so much space, stick one in a cage and that will be enough for them but nooo, sure not only they might actually come around here so that's why doors are human sized but rooms don't need to be, or cabinets. Probably. Well at least all the stuff everywhere is neatly sorted. Hm, was sorted. She doesn't have time to browse, a quick look and she has to move on, it's the second floor she descended and there is nothing interesting that she has found as of yet. Some plants that really look untrustworthy, some flammable materials but nothing that she can't find anywhere else. Much less explosives. Oh this better be worth it because if she left the zoo so quickly and doesn't find anything good then she will be pissed. She doesn't like being angry, it draws away from the fun she's having.

This is not fun. Not at all, no sir! It is as far away from it as she had since the rush of adrenaline last week ended. And this whole time was pretty boring. But this is ridiculous, it's not even boring it's brain draining!

She shivers and wipes sweat off her face, mildly irritated at how icky she feels. If the fresh blood was uncomfortable then this is twice as much. And the sweating makes it even worse as she has to keep her eyes clean, all the stuff on her hands is almost like glue.

She's starting to think there is nothing worth seeing here, if they had an explosives research it would be put someplace easily reachable. Like on the ground floor. But there are only classrooms and lecture halls there. First research section was underground so she thought that it would be somewhere there but no luck either. And there is only pyrotechnics section on the floor she just visited (and while pretty, these aren't real explosives) so then why would there be anything noteworthy further down?

Jinx stops her descent down the staircase to the third floor when that thought surfaces in her mind. This is pointless, she won't find anything further down. Normally it wouldn't bother her. If her goal was to aimlessly wander around as it is in vast majority of cases then okay, sure whatever let's do it! But this isn't that. She want to find something specific and whenever she opens a cabinet and finds only trash like some fertilizer tagged as new, unique, experimental and cogs know what else she just can't stop herself from lashing out in frustration. It's the worst feeling ever. If she's angry then she can blow it off with some mayhem, it's not perfect but she feels better after that.

This. This is infuriating, in this messed up way that she can't do anything about it. Just- screw this.

She's about to turn around and visit pyrotechnics again to at least set that one on fire when her ears pick up on a set of boots quickly thumping against the floor over the noise that alarm is making, somewhere below her position.

Completely forgetting her decision from not two seconds ago, she pulls Zap out of his holster and walks down the stairs curious about the clamor. Or rather who's making it, or what. The alarm has been going on for a while and she heard some people making a run for it when she was checking one room after another. Bunch of losers, they're good at hiding though, so at least she could have fun playing hide and seek if such fancy struck her. Hm, on the other hand it may also just be this building and it's pinheaded layout that makes them so hard to notice.

How old is this place? Maybe the "architect" is still alive. Jinx isn't an altruist but she can do one good deed a year and make sure that he won't mess with people brains again. And then she'd have to get to those who forwarded the project and... nah. Too much work.

She squints as she passes a lamp on the wall. Ugh, lights are too bright here, they hurt her eyes whenever she passes under one. She could get goggles like Blockhead, hm. That's not a half bad idea since light in general has been irritating her for the last week for some reason and it's only getting worse with each day.

The girl rounds a corner and stumbles on the last step, nearly falling over under the weight of all the equipment she's carrying. There is still one bomb in her bag, that she decided to keep for making some mess here instead of using it in the zoo. Pity it isn't exactly strong, capable of gutting a room maybe but won't do much on its lonesome. Planting it in pyrotechnics though might be enough to at least burn this dump down.

She straightens up, and to her delight sees a vaguely familiar furball rooted in place right in front of her.

* * *

Ziggs knows full well that many decision he made throughout his life were not good. Actually, most of them might have backfired and only recently had his life finally began shaping up to consist of something more than never ending string of failures that his inventions usually were. The invention of hexplosives changed everything, suddenly his dangerous and irresponsible hobby became respected and desired occupation where he could tinker with more destructive nature of technology and magic to his heart's desire. Other than his life's one true love that he found in hexplosives he contributes to making hextech safer, ironic as it is. By reverse engineering unstable tech alongside the Revered Inventor, instinctively finding the issue and then helping in fixing it. Really it's alike looking for what he would put in machines to rig them, easy stuff.

His pride and joy may lay with explosions but he doesn't want his crowning achievement to be a weapon of mass destruction.

Yet at the moment, standing before the gore covered, lanky figure that seems to have just noticed him, he has no doubt that deciding to stay behind in order of saving his newest project was the worst mistake he ever made in his entire life. What was he thinking? Staying behind in spite of his assistant's pleas and for what? To gather files detailing production of enriched high mining explosives. Glorious achievement of his and his alone, a method of fusing highly unstable material with magical energy using nothing but machines. Brilliant, ground breaking. And something he can with some effort make anew. But no, he had to be stupid about it and try saving it. He can imagine his grave already.

Here lies Ziggs, he died for science.

Has a rather nice touch to it actually.

The momentary standstill between them ends when a wicked grin forms on the face of psychopath in front of him. Showing perfectly white teeth, the only part of her face not covered in dry blood and dust, it is hideous, just a bit too wide to easily pass as human smile. The Dean drops papers he's been carrying to make a run for it further into laboratories. He manages to turn around and make first couple steps before something hard slams into his back.

For a short moment he wonders why is he sailing through the air, until he crushes head first into wall making all coherent though leave his mind. The small body falls face down onto floor with a thud. Dazed, he lies there for a minute, incapable of doing anything more than listening to the ringing in his ears. When he moves it is not by his own accord, Ziggs is only vaguely aware of the fact that something is rolling him onto back as well as of additional weight on his chest. But when his eyes finally manage to focus again, the first thing they see is a wide grin of a blue haired girl who is pinning him down to the ground. Yordle's mind catches up nearly instantly after that.

"Oh no, dongers- no please don't kill me!"

The grin adoring his captor's face transforms into a confused frown.

"I'm not gonna, you're the one making those- uh- um..." She bites her bottom lip in thought, apparently struggling with remembering, she looks somewhere above him and a bead of sweat drops from her chin onto his face." Oh! Hexplosives, right? I'm right right?" His heart is hammering so fast it is almost painful, his tongue tangled, he energetically nods. The filthy smile returns onto the criminal's face, it makes Ziggs quiver in dread. This isn't a human smile, humans don't smile like that!

"Great! I was lookin' for your stuff but, heh. Couldn't find it. This place stinks, where are your bombs? Different building?" The girl lifts herself off his small body and gives him an expectant stare. He must swallow couple times before finding his voice.

"N-no, my lab's downstairs, fourth floor." Her brows furrow and she turns head towards the shark-like rocket launcher hanging over her shoulder.

"Why would anybody put all the fun stuff so deep? Doesn't make sense." She murmurs, the Yordle starts slowly inching away while she's distracted with- whatever this is.

"Maybe so it would be safer?" he supplies, her voice suddenly changes, becoming deep and almost boy-like.

"Nah that's stupid, you put useless things there, like- uh... dunno, brooms? Hey, Rat, why did you guys put the fun stuff all the way down?" He freezes, noticing that Jinx is addressing him.

"Uh, safety reasons?" She blows a raspberry at hearing that. Ziggs holds his breath hoping he didn't just dig himself a deeper hole.

"Safety, you guys are just- urgh, okay whatever come on," She extends a hand to her victim. "show me your lab." He did. He's so dead, he should have just run and maybe she would leave him after beating to unconsciousness. She doesn't always kill her victims from what he knows, often leaving them after serious trashing when they lose her interest.

He reluctantly grabs her hand and he involuntarily notes that it's almost burning hot in addition to being covered in sticky gore.

"Well? To your lab, lead on." He is forcefully turned around and given a light kick to his back, not enough to make him stumble but it still hurts since he was already developing a bruise there. Not wanting to give his captor any reason to hurt him, the yordle complies and begins the walk to his laboratory.

He hears a plastic rustle from behind him and after glancing backwards sees a sweets packet in his jinx's hands.

"Wanna jelly?"

* * *

"Fuck." Vi is the first one to speak as the yordle claiming to be the Ziggs' assistant finishes his story. Of course things could not have been simple, no, she could have predicted that something of the like must happen. Jinx being four stories underground is too great an opportunity of catching her so fate has to go and screw that chance up. If they manage to block her below second level then no matter how much her weapons can pack, it just wouldn't matter, they could barricade the entrances and just make sure to keep her contained. The fire escape is already closed off and heavily guarded, only thing remaining to do is sending a strike team into the building proper.

That plan has crumbled in on itself when a disheveled aid of the local explosives expert ran out the building and told them how his boss hasn't come up after him in the time he should have.

Idiot, if he didn't wait and informed them straight away Ziggs would have a lot better chances. Admirable of him to wait for his boss considering the alarm, but straight up moronic.

"Took that right outta my head." Responds the lieutenant in charge of security force. "Son of a bitch. Do we even have a hostage situation here? Enfocer?" He turns to Vi, looking for input of the only person around who has dealt with the terrorist in the past. The pinkette scowls at the thought of being an expert on Jinx but realises she's the only one who can even remotely guess as to what will that red eyed freak do.

"Probably, Jinx's not dumb, batshit crazy but not stupid. She'd be dead already if she was. Boss says she's looking for something, dunno what but she's methodical. More or less. If she caught Ziggs then yeah, I think she will use him to get out of killzone." She doesn't add that if that happens then it's back to their game of cat and mouse, nobody needs to be reminded of that, nobody wants to be.

The man sighs, he was probably hoping not to have to deal with it, cruel as it is.

If only it wasn't Ziggs. Vi knows perfectly well what would happen in a case where say- it was the assistant and not his employer that got trapped with the psycho inside. Sacrificing a noone in order to get Jinx, death cause?

Truly unfortunate case of overdosing iron which nobody would know when or how happened.

It's cruel and dirty, but given the situation the Force would get away with a slap on the wrist from both public and press. And administration? Medal would be given to whomever made the call to salvage the hostage, speeches and all, about importance of duty and how big of a tragedy it is to make difficult choices.

Fucking two-faced backstabbers. Just thinking about it makes the enforcer angry. Yeah, she could and would make that call too. But to actually go around parading what would basically be signing a death warrant on an innocent? And as a gears damned right thing to do? She couldn't do that, no matter how justified, murder is murder, done by stray bullet or Jinx herself? Doesn't matter. And if indeed it was her call to make then she wouldn't feel regret- no. It just pisses her off when people are unwilling to just take such call for what it is, a tragic necessity that doesn't deserve any praise.

The fact that Ziggs is being treated differently because of who he is only further serves to fuel that anger, it's not that she doesn't want to rescue him more than she wants to cave the maniac's face in, it's that the reason they will actually try and get him out alive is because he's a champion, were he anybody else they wouldn't even try.

Knowing and understanding the reasoning behind it is yet another thing she hates. It used to be so easy before joining Police, a life without rules others than the ones she decided to abide to. She didn't give thought to this type of bullshit back in the day, ironically, that life often seems to have been so much more honest than the one she's living right now. She misses it sometimes.

She sees Jayce approaching and waves him over. She relayed Caitlyn's orders regarding herself and Futureboy to the lieutenant, Ezreal was sent into tunnels beneath the university in case Jinx managed to break through the cordon and go there. The sheriff probably just didn't want him directly on the scene, he has less experience in this field but having a backup in form of his amulet? That could be useful, and she doesn't have to worry about him winding up dying (too much), the depths are not a safe place either.

"So what did I miss?" Asks the vigilante as he joins her by side.

"Ziggs is in there." She answers tersely. The man gives her a startled look and glances towards the building before opening mouth to speak again.

"Okay people." He is interrupted be the security leader. "We're sticking with the original plan, hostage is priority one, don't engage the suspect unless necessary, check and secure all rooms, cage the whole area and stall for time until sheriff arrives. Go, go!"

"Come on." Says Vi to her friend. "We're going in first, these guys barricade staircase and make sure She doesn't slip out." She starts to jog in direction of the building. Assessing the damage done to the entrance as she climbs up the short steps, made so specifically for yordles attending the courses here. This type of stairs is the go to for new buildings in Piltover, there is a paragraph for in the state law actually, as she has learned when plowing through it at Caitlyn's whim. Zaun mostly has this kind of stairs too, only nobody enforces their construction. Funny how they don't need so many regulations and yet go toe to toe with Piltover in their rivalry.

"Where is Ez?" He asks after catching up with her on stairs leading to the entrance.

"Somewhere underground, Cait sent him."

They fall silent after that, The mechanical door that was constructed by young yordle scientists as a part of last year trade sector mechanics competition is blown apart with broken glass everywhere, cracking under two champion's boots. Those may not be the ones they both use for combat but Piltovian fashion, while at times seems to be on a trip to la la land has one consistent theme, solid shoes. Even the pair that Jayce is wearing, fitting for a battle as well as a party. He pays attention to these things, Vi? Not so much, she prefers army boots unless she knows the place she's going to has a dress code. She doesn't go to many of those unless dragged by her friends.

The lobby is almost untouched, beside the bullet ridden vending machines with sugar drinks just beyond destroyed entrance and another one with sweets closer to reception desk, well, and a spilled soda laying some distance away from the second vendor.

The pinkette shakes her head in disbelief, looks around and points to the hallway marked with **CHEMISTRY **on the sign hanging beside it.

Their silence is broken as they pass a second room without checking the inside.

"Shouldn't we take a look, you know for a bomb or the like?" Speaks up Jayce.

"Nah, she's looking for something. I bet my everything that this something is Zigg's lab. I mean, I can't think of anything else that psycho would put together a plan for. Think about it, all of the city and she winds up here, in this section." Jayce's expression turns from confusion to terror, it's quite interesting to see the point at which he realizes he missed a crucial fact in his reasoning.

"Gears... I forgot, shit, you're right! Come on! I know where his lab is exactly, she blows it up the whole building may just come down." He breaks into a run.

"What?" She blinks and after a second picks up the pace, not quite understanding the rush. "Isn't it it four floors down? What is he working on?"

"Same as always, just- you know. Skipping some regs." Which in his case means keeping more destructive material than allowed or working on something too dangerous for controls to approve of.

"Oh come on, seriously?" An image of a depot filled to the brink with fireworks surges in her mind.

"You're the one to talk!" He answers as they run down the staircase, uncaring for all the instructions they got about checking and securing level after level, door after door, leaving entire floors without even peeking about.

"Shut up! I'm police, I break regs to save assholes that do it in the first place."

* * *

It's like a candy store, only better. One might not expect Jinx to be overjoyed at the sight of stacks of paper over explosives samples but that is exactly what she's hoped to find. Yeah, bombs are great no arguing about that, so what is better than having a bomb?

Knowing how to build one of course!

Not that her knowledge on the matter isn't extensive, it is! One could almost call her a specialist in that field. Thing is, materials she uses are not top of the line, custom made goodies that dorks from the other side of the law have unrestricted access to. One look at scattered notes lets her know that making these 'hexplosives' is something she absolutely has to learn how to do. The concept to be honest, simple. Supercharging materials with energy, magic in this case as it is supposedly the most stable. Funny, she was taught it is the most unstable resource in the world.

She snorts. And it still is the most stable one for this. Hah! Stupid Tinhead.

Well it's simple in theory anyway. Building a charging station, not unlike a battery charger, is what complicates the process so much. There have been attempts to do just that for years already, it's just that Rat, who is at the moment safely secured under a heavy metal table near the exit, is the first one to have actually made it without blowing up the charger. And the lab, and himself. Really, the power of these famous explosions is something of a legend in circles concerned. One in particular is said to have wiped out a town, like a hundred years back or so during a Rune War. Jinx sometimes wonders how awesome must have that explosion been, what colour, what blast, the heat, the noise. What wouldn't she give to see it.

She glances at the door when the sound of alarm finally stops it's annoying ringing, well about time. She had half mind to find the damned contraption and shoot it to pieces.

The girl turns back to the overturned table under which her new friend is trapped.

"So you're sayin' this charger's the working one yeah?" She taps the device on a whim.

"Which one? The red is working, others are dummies." he squeals from under his prison, not seeing which of his prided invention the terrorist refers to.

Jinx turns to check the colour. Blue. Huh, she thought she had the red one, where is red? Ah. In her bag, she put in in her bag already, didn't she? Can't remember, she checks the bag to be sure and indeed, a small cylindrical object is lying securely between packs of jellies and a folder of documents detailing proportions, type and power of explosives that can be supercharged. It is the only part of the whole device she can't somehow make herself, seeing as the whole thing is rather big she decided to only take what she can't create on her own.

She can repair or remake it if it breaks, probably. She thinks.

Maybe- oh who cares! She's got what she came for, worrying in advance is stupid. Well, now for a distraction. She moves to the back room where most of the good stuff is located, shame she won't be able to take them back with her, oh well. Beggars can't be choosers.

"Hey Fishbones, five or ten?" She asks as she removes her last bomb from the satchel and lies it in the middle of explosives filled room.

"I don't think you should do it at all, we have what we came for, there is no need to-"

"Shut up! I asked you a question. Five or ten?" He stubbornly remains silent and she turns head to look at him. He's glaring at her, clearly unhappy with what she's planning. Dumb rocket launcher, of all the times he's going to give her trouble now? Who does he think he is? "Fine! Five it is."

"Wait."

"No, I asked you and you're giving me crap. Screw you, I'm setting five and you can go stuff it." With that she fixes the timer and then sets it off. An angry expression gives way to a smile as the familiar rush of adrenaline immediately sets in. She has five minutes to get out, from what she understands about the power of hexplosives, (and it is still relatively little) after five minutes, the explosion will fry everything underground and who knows, maybe even above and outside.

She abruptly stands up and runs to her furry friend.

"Okay Mascot, gotta scram it if we wanna die sometime else!" She grunts with effort as she raises the heavy furniture he's under just enough for him to scramble out from beneath it. Damn, it wasn't this heavy three minutes ago, what is it, some new anti theft table tech or something, gaining weight when disturbed? She shoots Ziggs a wicked smile although her tone takes a darker note. "You better hope this charger works, you don't want it not to." The last part she very nearly growls out.

"Red one works, I swear!" He manages to choke through the swelling throat, he's battered all over come to think of it. His breath is heavy, possibly from being squished under table, blood is seeping from his brows and his moves are still stiff after being electrocuted by low charged Zap. Jinx is bad at discerning if people tell the truth, so she had to roughen him up a bit just to be sure he himself won't want to lie. She grins happily and pats the yordle on head, having him flinch away from it in fear.

"Great! Come on!" She whips around, swaying slightly and trots out of the lab, trying to remember which way to go when her thoughts are interrupted by a thud behind her, she turns to see the cause and scowls at the sight of fallen Ziggs, wheezing in pain. She briskly walks over to him and turns him over with a kick to his side. She thinks something cracked in there but that's not her fault, it's his for not listening to her. She sighs and crouches beside him.

"You doing this on purpose or are just that dumb? This place's gonna blow you know?" Really, didn't she tell him that? She did didn't she? Jinx can't remember over the buzzing in her head.

"C-can't. Walk." He manages to cough out. Before passing out. Bugger.

"What do you mean you can't- You know what? Whatever, I'm not- just whatever." Her good mood ruined, she picks him up bridal style and begins running in direction she's nearly sure is the good one, whatever his issue, he can explain himself later. They have to get out of here before the bomb goes off, but they are going to have words and he will explain himself for messing up he most fun part of the entire game. She just wanted to have a nice night, blow something up, get chased around for a bit. Oh oh! Maybe Fathands will even show up but he just had to go and mock it up. Now she has to carry his lazy butt outta here. He might be an idiot but they made friends, and what are friends for?

She dashes madly in direction of the main hallway, trying to remember how much time has Ziggs wasted, fifteen seconds? Twenty? Plus when she got him out from under the table. Hm, maybe she should have set the timer for ten... nah. That would be boring, way, waaay too much time to get away. Well that and she had to shove it in Fishbones' face. Idiot. Wait what is-

She stops and her red eyes widen in surprise at the sight of her Enforcer and Dunderhead, both coming to a stop when they see her. They look... different. Without any armor and somesuch, Fatass definitely looks differently.

It bothers Jinx in a way she can't quite put her finger on.

The lapse in movement lasts for an entire second before a charging sound of Vi's gauntlets fills the silence, followed immediately by a similar noise made by transforming hammer, the bluette can't recall if it is the ranged version or not, whatev. She has an advantage anyway.

She changes her hold on the yordle, with some effort managing to hold him with right arm only while the other hand drops to her side to rip Zap out of his holster. She puts his barrel straight into her new friend's ear, freezing both her adversaries in place. A hideous smirk graces her lips.

"Sup Masher, sup Vi-" She snorts, not able to finish her name as she intended, because of a laugh trying to simultaneously leave her throat at the memory of her full name. "V- Vi-" She starts choking for all her effort.

"Shut up psycho, let him go and I might just not beat you up too much." barks out the Enforcer. The maniac listens but only for the promise of a chase with her favorite officer, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Huh? But we're friends, what friend would I be if I left him here to be blown to pieces?" Yeah that wouldn't do at all.

"You little-"

"You planted a bomb?" Cuts in Jayce, the mad girl nods energetically, leaving her a little bit dazed for some reason. "How long?" The question seems to confuse Jinx before she catches on after couple seconds.

"No idea!" She admits gleefully. She knows she knew a moment ago but she can't remember now. "Might wanna check huh?" She looks over them as she hears a new noise, coming from the staircase. Huh, backup. Well that way is busted, oh she could shoot her way through a barricade but it would take time, something they are all quite short on right now and even then, there is a limit to how many cops she can take at once, that limit being something like a full blown siege always waiting outside the main entrance that's for sure, and she's not just turning herself in, nuh-uh. She will either find another exit or die here.

Huh. She didn't think of dying in some time.

"Let me through." Says the local hero to Jinx. "Vi, get your guys out of the building."

There should be another way out, Piltovians have this obsession with safety as she has learned, always leaving at least two ways out of the building. Well, two doorways anyway. Normally she is granted the courtesy of making a new escape, sadly, she can't make one here so she just has to find an existing one.

"What? You can't be serious we have her!"

Maybe leading through like, a maintenance section, or a depot or something, they have to keep their stuff somewhere right?

"That bomb blows up and we're all dead!" He raises his voice. "Make sure she won't get out through front and get the back."

Or a kitchen, there are back doors in kitchens too, does this place have kitchens? Hard to say, she got away through kitchen once, was about to give her position up by blowing a hole in the wall but she was lucky enough to find a way out. Who would have thought that canteens have kitchens? It was quite a surprise for her.

"What? How much of that shit's even there?"

It wasn't that much of a thrill, that chase. She only vaguely remembers it because it was in that canteen that she had pancakes for the first time in her life. And the last as of yet, they don't really serve her anywhere anymore.

"Too much, just do it. I can disarm bombs, if I have some time. Just cut her off and we got this either way."

She can't really cook either. Like anything at all, the fire was nice sure but she generally avoids stoves these days after burning down her last hideout, it's a bother, finding a new one.

"Damn it! Don't die on me okay? Hey freak!"

Well at least she has jellies for later, if she lives that is.

"Jinx!"

"Huh?" Her attention is drawn back to the present. She steadies her grip on Ziggs as he began slipping from her hug.

"Let Jayce through, give me Ziggs and I'm gonna leave you, for now." The girl looks around until she spots a sign showing the way to fire escape. Why is she looking for a way out again?

"Wha-? Why?"

"We don't have time for this, We start fighting and we all blow up." Vi is wondering if she should mention that the men sent as their backup would die too but is not sure if it would serve as a good argument or a bad one with Jinx.

_'Blown up? Oh... bomb. Oh the bomb!'_

They needs to get out, the blast will fry everything in here, that much she knows. And while she doesn't care so much for the square jaw over here, she doesn't want Pinktard to actually die. And while she's a moron she got one thing right. They will all die.

She hasn't even finished Super Mega Death Rocket!

"Okay. Drop your weapons and we let you through." Her head whips to the side, anger pained on face when Fishbones answers for them both. What does he think he's doing?

Vi exchanges an uneasy look with Jayce, he shakes head, hoping she won't start a fight, even while distracted, Jinx has proven time and again how dangerous she can be.

"Who let you speak? I'm in charge here." She spats, irked that he hasn't even tried to consult her before making the decision. Really, he's been exceptionally unruly lately and it's grating on nerves more and more every day.

"Really? I'm trying to get us out of here in one piece and you're complaining?"

"Yeah maybe you should ask me first huh? Jerk. Ugh." He's right though, they do need to bail and just agreeing to what they want seems like a good way to do it. It's a wide spread opinion that she can't see reason but that's just not true, were they somewhere outside, say... not on the top of a skyscraper where she would encounter similar issues as here, she wouldn't even think about striking a deal. Give her a smallest chance of success and she will take it, but she recognises a tie when she sees one. An unpleasant gran leaves her throat.

"Okay Nerd Boy, go, drop your... stuff and go. You too Fathands, tut tut."

Futureman shoots his companion a pointed look, then lets his hammer fall to the ground without a word, Vi growls and kneels down to gently lie clenched gauntlets on their fists, then slips her hands out from them. The maniac mentions Jayce to move and he cautiously steps around her, both of them eyeing the other for any sudden movements, he breaks into a run after passing the terrorist and she turns back to her Enforcer.

"Well? Let him go." Demands the pinkette. Jinx answers with a sunny smile before words.

"Nope, I'm keeping him. We're friends you know?"

"What? You said you'd let him go!" Jinx's smile fades a bit and the girl blinks, trying to recall what she said only to find that she can't.

"Yeah whatevs, don't remember." She starts making her way in direction of the exit, meaning she has to pass the Idiot on her way there, she takes the barrel out of yordle's ear and trains it at seething Vi.

"You're not getting out of this one, we've got all exits covered." She snarls, Jinx simply shrugs, as she can find no witty comeback in her foggy mind. She's already passed the police officer when a shout momentarily distracts her, making her glance sideways.

"Enforcer! Are you there?!"

It's enough for Vi to close the short distance between them and sock the criminal on the jaw. Making her lose grasp of the hostage, though not her weapon. She nonetheless falls over from the blow, painfully aware of all the hard edges on both Fishbones and Pow-Pow. She tries to aim at her opponent but a kick to her hand sends Zap further away into hallway. Okay then, if she wants to play like that. Pity she won't get Rat out of here too but she can do without him.

Jinx coils her whole body and throws both her legs out, managing to hit enforcer's own and trip her over. She doesn't think much of it when she sees a hand in front of her face, lurching out and biting into it and tasting the blood. The pinkette's pained cry can be heard even on the ground floor.

"We're going in, move, move!"

Not wasting time, Jinx scrambles to her knees and grabs hold of Vi's arms, not really managing to pin them, as she's the physically weaker one of them two. It is enough though for the Enforcer not to have the time to cover her head as the maniac rams her forehead into Vi's temple. Momentarily stunning the taller woman, she falls to the side, stunned herself but not to the point of being unable to move, and she has to move quickly if she wants to get out of here before she's overwhelmed.

She scrambles to her feet and grabs Fishbones, at the same time moving towards Zap and away from Vi who she knows will be up in just seconds. The girl aims her best friend at the stairs and fires. She doesn't wait to see the effect of her shot.

It misses by leagues as she is not quite capable of steadily aiming with her shaking and weak hands. But it's enough to dissuade the officers trying to get down from doing just that for long enough that she can bolt to where Zap lies.

She looks over shoulder when her friend is once again safe in her possession to see Pinktard putting her gauntlets back on. She shoots again, this time with her energy pistol but misses yet again. The criminal snorts and mock salutes her before turning around and running in direction of the fire escape. Her steps followed by bullets and shouts.

* * *

"Stop! Stop! Cease fire!" Vi orders the men that flooded down from the staircase and look just about ready to give Jinx a chase. "Bomb hazard, Jayce went to disarm it but- get me a real sapper, we're getting out!" Gears damn it does her arm hurt! She bit a fair amount of people back in the day herself, but never thought it'd be quite like that! She's just hoping Twerp is clean.

"I'm a sapper," One of the officers says. "where to?"

"Damn, uh, this way." She points to direction Jayce went. "Ziggs' lab, dunno which one just call Jayce out he should answer. You two, get Ziggs out and to an ambulance. Everyone move it!"

* * *

"Mister Jayce! Jayce!" Oh what now? As if the mess that happened when he went to disarm the bomb wasn't making enough noise to distract him from his work.

"What?!" He shouts back, if it's not Jinx he should be safe doing that, shouldn't he?

A man in police uniform barrels through the door to the back room a moment after that. He's stunned into silence for a moment by the amount of hexplosives amassed in here before snapping out of his thoughts and moving over to where the Hero is kneeling.

"I'm a sapper, move over newbie." Futureman scowls at the name but does as he's told, while he knows how to disarm the explosives it is indeed better to leave it to a specialist when it's possible. "Huh, that's, not bad actually." The man says after seeing the state in which jayce left the bomb. Bah! Of course it's not bad, he knows what he's doing." Still, get out, it's a job for one person only." He knows that, he may be an amateur but he knows how this works.

"Whatever you say." He runs back to where he left his hammer, it's still there. Oh he's going to have words with Vi when this is all over for leaving his baby behind like that.

* * *

A couple of police trucks with reinforcements, Vi among them, her bitten- left arm hastily banadaged on the way- arrive on the other side of the building by the specific fire escape, nearly a kilometre away from the main entrance. Lieutenant claimed it to be guarded by twenty officers, given how much of a choke point the solid exit makes he thought it enough, impossible to get through. And it should be. After the strike force scrambled out of the building's front he sent three trucks with additional thirty people just to be sure anyway.

It is carnage that greets them.

All twenty officers lying in pools of blood, lifeless.

"Gears..." One of the people Vi came along with breaths out in horror.

The enforcer's mind for one, goes blank for a minute, just standing beside truck, unmoving. Until cold rage starts filling her. Urge to scream incoherently that she can't help but indulge.

She smashes her gauntlet into side of a truck, making it jump a meter away from her and leaving a sizeable dent in the metal. It doesn't diminish her anger in the slightest. It takes her a moment to notice she's being addressed by one of the men. He flinches away at the murderous look she gives him but soldiers on.

"Something is wrong with the bodies." Idiot.

"Of course something is wrong, they're fucking dead!" The man draws in on himself but finishes his report anyway.

"No it's- All the wounds. They were all shot from behind."

That gives her a pause.

"Show me."

* * *

"Next chapter will be much shorter" my ass. I thought It would be at 5k and in next chapter content-wise. Whatever. I had trouble writing this one, thankfully I got inspired some halfway through and it was enough to improve the first part too.

Anyway! We're finally getting to the meat of the story. The focus of this chapter I think was to show Jinx on her not-so-good days. Because this isn't what her bad days look like, not by a long shot.

Also, Ziggs! :D


	12. 1 - 12

Vi is speeding through the Old Town in a police car left behind by one of the deceased officers in wake of whomever it was that helped Jinx escape. She's still seething with rage but has managed to push it down far enough so that she's be able to concentrate on what is right now the most important thing.

The chase.

The amount of time she wasted along with the other officers at the massacre site was a lapse in judgment, nearly two minutes wasted, two minutes that she could have used to get outside the campus and where the Loose Cannon broke through the siege. Instead she spent it pointlessly raging. They all did. Examining the bodies proved that Jinx has little to do with their deaths but it didn't take a lot of guessing who's fault was the explosion some kilometer away from Vi's whereabouts. If she didn't make the wrong choice maybe she could have had caught the criminal by now. She seemed unfocused, more so than usual anyway and in a bad way too. Not able to shoot properly, seemingly having troubles with putting two thoughts together.

She could have had her already.

What instead happened was that at the moment Jinx broke through the siege Vi was just getting into a car to pursue her. As it is, she only knows the general area where Jinx might be thanks to Ezreal who along with the forces he was assigned to managed to drive the terrorist out of sewers. Good thing he was there, even so, an officer with him has to be hospitalized, along with three others that got caught in an explosion and ensuing bullet storm when Jinx made her escape from the university grounds.

Were it not for a little detail it could almost be called a success, given how she hasn't yet killed anyone tonight and that the bomb she planted must have been defused, seeing that, as of yet, there have been no further explosions lighting up the night sky.

Twenty little details.

No matter how hard the Enforcer scours her mind she can't think of one case when somebody helped Jinx. Not once. Probably because until now, nobody was insane enough to make acquaintance with the crazy girl. Everyone and their dog know how unstable she is, how likely to shoot you as well as sing for you she is. There were attempts at getting her into various gangs just after her arrival in the city. Those ceased pretty quickly when it became clear that she's about as likely to accept their offer as to spontaneously walk up to Piltover City Police Department and demand being included into its ranks.

Normally, Vi would exclude the possibility of her making any kind of deal with criminal elements, it's just not her way but then again. Tonight seems to be a night of firsts.

What the pinkette thinks had actually happened is that one of mafias managed to actually find Jinx's hideout and has her tailed. The chaos that is left in the mad girl's wake makes fertile ground for illegal operations, what with the amount of forces assigned to Jinx. The crime reared its ugly in a matter of days, and the Force just can't deal with everything that is going on, it got marginally better in the last week since the maniac was mostly out of action, only being reported robbing a drug and grocery store. But never have they interfered during an operation against Jinx. Still, they must have figured that it's good for business to keep tabs on her, and to get her out of trouble if she got too close to getting caught so that they can squeeze as much from the mess for as long as possible- and if she gets too troublesome? They can give their information to the police.

Fuckers.

That's why she quit running with gangs. Because of heartless sons of bitches that when looking at people, only see money. She had killed, yes. And it still happens in her new line of work, sometimes. But back then it was always because it was necessary, shoot a rivaling gangster, offing a detective too close to their trail and then getting rid of the body. And now it's not holding back with a punch at a kidnapper holding hostages. It's a risk you agree on or at least should when you decide to join this deadly game of cat and mouse. Blackmail, extortion, theft and killing. But not murder, never murder. The miners didn't deserve death just because her gang fucked up. It was simple then and it still is.

That some bastard chooses to use a destruction hungry psychopath jut to get some more cash is sickening. There are the likes of murderers and killers like Jinx who are just broken and don't even think about the consequences, maybe aren't even capable of doing so. And then there are real monsters. Cold, calculating and level headed beasts in fashionable suits that will let innocents die because it brings them some extra profit, she thought once, so many years ago, that things are different outside Zaun. But such people are everywhere. Those that will order the death of twenty officers because they don't want the chaos to stop just yet.

She might hate Jinx. But if that is what she calls the feeling the bluenette stirs in her then Vi doesn't even know the word to describe what she feels towards whoever helped the maniac get away.

She turns a corner and scowls at the sight that greets her eyes.

In the distance, the Enforcer can see something vaguely resembling a human lying across the road not far from the smoking remains of a car. There is blast damage everywhere around though not all that significant. Must have been done no more than three minutes ago or somebody would have already called the PCPD and the central would have dispatched orders by now, this area is populated and the denizens must have been awoken by the noise, probably some of them are calling emergency number right now.

Damn it, that is the twenty first if there isn't anyone inside or on the other side of the car. This just keeps getting better and better. And it's not a police vehicle either, so the headcount of innocent that Jinx killed has just gone up thanks to some fucker who let her escape. Her hands clench on the wheel at the though that come morning he will hear a report and not give a single thought to any of the people that died tonight ever again. If she ever gets her hands on him...

She forces herself to relax, it won't do to lose concentration right now. Okay, damn. Report first and then she can investigate, she hates wasting time for HQ calls but those couple seconds can potentially help them encircle their target, and that's what matters the most. Getting the job done. She slows to a stop and picks up a radiphone handle.

"HQ, this is Enforcer. I've got a body and a car wreck on Low Academic nineteen. Investigating." she slams the handle back with just a bit too much force, cracking it open. Great, she hopes to find something to beat up tonight. The gym can only take so much abuse and dealing with complaints about broken equipment later on doesn't lift her spirits either.

"Roger that Enforcer, proceed. Sending a cleanup crew."

Vi kills the engine some distance away from the burning wreckage and after rolling up her sleeves, reaches over to the other seat to put on her gauntlets. As much as she hates taking them off during a situation, there is no way to properly drive in them, too little backfeed to avoid ripping the wheel out or wringing it dead. It had happened thrice before she gave up on trying, finding herself unwilling to deal with Cait's berating over the issue. It's not like her boss didn't make a good point, wrecking the wheel halfway there doesn't help in getting on scene faster. Her gauntlets aren't exactly wieldy and it's hard to reach small things in them. Like the keys, just not enough space between the wheel and dashboard. She did prove Caitlyn wrong in that she managed to pull keys out of her pocket without ripping her trousers apart but it wasn't easy either. Manageable at best.

Once the gauntlets are once again where she likest them the most, the pinkette jerks her fingers, hitting the switch that activates them and pushes the door open with her shoulder while her babies snap into proper shape.

She immediately (and somewhat painfully, what with her left arm bitten) raises the armed hands and looks about when out of the vehicle, ready for an attack and on lookout for danger, she doesn't have her armor on and it's better safe than sorry. If she gets into a blast like the last time she fought with Jinx without that extra protection- well she's not a medic but Vi figures she might be up for something a lot worse than a short hospital stay.

When nothing happens, she lowers the guard a bit, still wary but assured enough to walk closer to the wreckage and inspect the body. It is when she's not a meter away that she notices a couple of things, namely the parts of body armor under the jacket that the dead man is wearing and the gun laying beside him. He's not a civy, it makes the woman both sigh in relief and tense up as he's not a plaincloth either. So most likely a criminal, maybe even one of those tasked with assisting Jinx in her escape. But then why would he lay dead here instead of bailing out? The maniac isn't known for caring whom she's shooting but neither for going out of her way to actually kill people, especially during an escape.

Oh- she is still extremely dangerous but more in a force of nature sort of way. Wreaking havoc and creating enough chaos to make an escape. Only planting bombs as a distraction and this isn't it. What the girl does is way more flashy, Cait says it's a way of attracting attention but Vi has a sneaking suspicion that Jinx simply likes bright and colorful explosions and that's all there is to it.

A gust of wind makes her gag as the stench of burnt meat hits her senses. The Enforcer glances at the flame-consumed car from where it must have came from before shaking head and turning away, looking for the most plausible way the terrorist might have used. It isn't her job to extract bodies, Bags will do that. What concerns her is who those people were, not civilians that's for sure. And while that is a good thing it raises the question of how have they winded up dead. Not from driving by, this Vi knows, Jinx wouldn't alert anyone to her location without having to.

That means they must have engaged her first.

They aren't plainclothes, mafia helped Jinx escape from the campus so it would be strange if it wanted to stop her just now after already killing twenty officers. Well it could be a rivaling gang but that still seems unlikely. Big players make such decisions in tandem and the pinkette can't see how killing Jinx would undermine a specific group. Unless those guys are something different altogether.

This is so over her head.

Stepping away from the body, she starts making her way further down the street in search for clues as to where to go from now. She needn't look far as one of the cars parked merely twenty meters away is riddled with bullet holes and upon closer inspection, hides another body on the back seat. A machine pistol lies abandoned on the ground, surrounded by scattered casing under the door behind which the corpse is seated. Vi doesn't pay attention to those. What interests her are the holes on the other side of the vehicle.

She tries to open the door only to have it ripped off the hinges. Well this isn't a specialist car that's for sure, it's not bulletproof nor especially sturdy. She puts the metal hunk back in its place for a moment and after memorizing where the entry holes are, throws it back- at this point uncaring for the clatter made by her actions- and leans into the ruined contraption to compare those to second bullet entries. The woman turns around and looks in direction the shots must have came from, second back alley from where she's standing but there aren't any casings on the ground. There are some leading to it and the closer one but none in places with cover. So it leaves only one option, up.

And indeed, a cornice of an old tenement's roof is battered by bullets. But what is more interesting is that another building down the line is a story higher. Making it impossible to jump onto. It makes Vi realize something.

This wasn't a chase. This was a deliberately set up trap into which Jinx must have been rounded up into. She knows because she had done it too. It takes a lot of effort and coordination to corner the maniac into choosing a specific path. Just who are these guys to have pulled this off?

She shakes head, dispersing the though. It doesn't matter who they are, whatever their game is they're not with Vi, it is all that matters and her mission is still the same. Get Jinx, they help her? Good. They try to stop her? Even better. Vi's itching to punch some faces in.

She blinks as a stray thought intrudes on her mind. Did she take the keys out of station? She didn't did she? Ah screw it! Bags will take care of that, it's their job to clean up other people's mess after all. And even if somebody stole the car, there are more important things to deal with than a one lost vehicle.

She rolls her shoulders and trots after the casings trail.

* * *

What a mess.

Twenty dead and for no good reason. Shot from behind as if lined up for death. Most had the time to turn around but not even one to take cover. Nearly all the shots are perfect, either head shots or through the hearts. Jayce is no expert when It comes to conventional weapons but he knows it takes skill to pull such a thing off. Knows enough to realise he couldn't do it and that the perpetrators must be pros.

This is such a load of bull. Just when it had seemed like they've finally done it and got Jinx cornered without a way to run, somebody decides it's high time to help the maniac out. This has to be the highest body count during a single intervention as of yet too. A failure without question. About the only thing that might somewhat even the scale of this disaster is the death of Jinx herself. Or her capture and then an execution after a mock trial. But this seems unlikely, they haven't managed to do that until now and with the assistance provided by some sort of outside factor it looks to be even more implausible.

He chances a look at Caitlyn, who after arriving on scene and giving out immediate orders simply took her time to examine the bodies. Not saying a word, probably figuring out the way this massacre played out.

She finished two minutes ago and has yet to say a word, for now opting to stand beside the radio operator and listen to incoming reports concerning the search for Jinx's trail. Nothing but clear streets till this point. She finally sighs and moves away from the truck where the radio station is installed and stands at the edge of the chalk line, placing her riffle butt down on the ground- holding it upright with her right hand. After a moment starting to trail circles around its muzzle. She's observing the Bags mapping the bodies and preparing the evidence for further examination. She had surely already done all that in her mind and if he knows her as well as he believes he does- that would normally mean that the Sheriff is simply examining her officers' work to give them pointers for the future.

Her empty eyes tell an entirely different story tonight.

It's a coping mechanism of sorts that she has developed well before starting her crime fighting career, that is all she has shared on the topic. The reason for it, she refuses to divulge and Jayce respects her privacy enough not to pry. When things get bad enough that anyone else would break under pressure, she refuses do do so.

For all intents and purposes she becomes a machine not unlike Orianna, running on her programming alone, without any emotion interfering with her thoughts.

It's a product of the way she thinks. To show emotion in a situation like this would be a weakness. And she won't allow such a weakness to show. She's the pillar of The Force and she is to set an example for all her men to follow. Their work here is not yet done and the woman knows how much her officers look up to her. Showing her fears to them is the last thing they need, if she won't remain calm then how can she expect them to? They're shaken as it is by the deaths of so many of their colleagues, what they need the most is not consolation but a sense of stability. The moment she begins doubting herself is the moment she has already lost. Police forces need to know that their leader is ready to forge onward. And forge onward Caitlyn does.

It is not to say that she doesn't care, just that- at the moment- she can't feel a single thing in relation to it. Oh she will later, after returning home where there will be nobody before whom she has to keep her emotions in check.

He doubts his friend will cry. She's not the sort to grieve like that, preferring to suffer in silence, shed a tear or two maybe but not openly cry. The Defender of Tomorrow scowls. His veins will rust before he leaves her to be alone in a time like this.

He walks up to her side and she spares him but a glance before returning to her observation.

The man doesn't offer any words, nor does he offer a comforting touch. She's obviously deep in thought though the inventor can't tell what might she ponder upon. Handling this situation comes as a foremost in Jayce's mind, to replace twenty officers spread thin as The Force is, won't be easy. But that's only the first and- depressing as the thought is- the least important issue, from a practical standpoint men are a resource and attaining or reassigning them is but a matter of logistics. Something Caitlyn's analytical mind must have dealt with when she first heard of the massacre, numbers are easy and it is in point of fact necessary for the woman to first deal with them.

What comes later is less clear cut to deal with.

Media being the first and foremost of the troubles to come. There was bad press a week ago what with the factory fiasco but nobody got killed back then. Massive property damage did not go unnoticed, no. Yet the public has forgiven their protectors that incident as- well. It was a fireworks factory after all, an extremely bad place to protect from a pyromaniac of Jinx's caliber. Some people from the administration (the statesmen mostly) jumped at the opportunity to improve their image by organising aid for those afflicted by the fires while the fireworks plant's owner was hushed with a guarantee of subsidies atop his own insurance. It has mostly blown over by now.

This is something different. A situation in which twenty officers of the law are killed in action makes solid ground for discharging Caitlyn from her position. No matter what happened here, no matter those men were apparently shot in the back. It's her job to make sure things like this don't happen. Piltover's Menace body count has risen twice today, or rather the body count connected to her case. That someone new seems to have joined the game is irrelevant, death of a subordinate is ultimately a responsibility of the commander. And while Cait is well loved by Piltover's people, this will not go over smoothly.

Not that the woman in question would have let herself just ignore the fact she has failed her men.

It's a very real possibility that she might be relieved of her command because of tonight. Not before Jinx is dealt with, there's nobody to fill the Sheriff's shoes at time like this but afterwards? She'd have to make one gears damned good argument to keep her position, if she chooses to keep it at all. The brunette herself might come to conclusion of resigning being the best choice, or suspension perhaps. Actually, suspension sounds as the most likely. There will be an investigation by the administration no doubt and while The Force will have a lot of work, it might be for the best for it to be done by someone else as to avoid accusations of influencing the outcome.

Has she made a mistake today? Possibly, the deaths tonight, while caused by an outside factor might have still been preventable. It depends on whom the new player is. The killers themselves obviously know their salt, no question here. If any of the syndicates has decided to aid Jinx... it would question Caitlyn's competence in gathering intel. If there was a wind to be caught about criminals helping the Loose Cannon then indeed, some measures could have been taken to prevent... this.

Before all this there is something to be done though that Jayce knows the Sheriff takes personal responsibility of.

Letters.

To wives and husbands, to mothers and fathers whose children they will never meet again. Every each letter unique, every each she takes upon herself to write and deliver. Though barely having the time to do the latter ever since Jinx's arrival in Piltover. Men die in service, it happens. Piltover's Sheriff sees it as her duty to make the death seem meaningful. That a widow can find some measure of solace in her husband's sacrifice. That it doesn't seem pointless.

Looking at the bodies, Jayce can't help but think that these will be tough letters to write.

"Sheriff!" They both turn to look at the calling radio operator. "There's a shootout in the Old Town."

* * *

It isn't long before Vi begins hearing the gunfire, it's bad, a firefight in a middle of a cramped housing estate has a high chance of becoming real messy real quick. And from the sound and look of it, neither side is holding back if the ripped apart bodies she has found on her way are any tell. The integrity of the buildings is good, the Enforcer knows that much from her own experience but if a rocket were to hit a gas pipe then she shudders to think of the consequences.

While most of the people woken up by the noise have probably left, there always are those either too scared to do so or simply trapped in their houses as Jinx and her adversaries are unlikely to care for an unfortunate civilian in the way of their shots.

Her steps are now careful, not wanting to attract any attention to herself from either of sides in the fight ahead. It's not hard to do as the narrow street could hardly fit a small car and has quite a few door niches on both sides were it necessary to hide and the lights are out, probably the land owners saving on energy. The place is pretty decrepit, a part of the Old Town that has yet to be even taken into consideration for renovating. Occupied mostly by either university students with modest income and elderly people who hadn't had the chance to reap the fruit of Piltover's progressing wealth. Born in wrong times when it was still ruled by mafias.

Vi herself can barely remember those times. She came here sometime around then- yeah but her... career. If one can call it such- started around the time the young deputy Liddell began her war against crime.

Those years she remembers well. It wasn't a problem at first, just another sort of upstart vigilante on her way to getting killed. Nothing special, and honestly, she was but a kid back then, not seeing a damned thing from the tip of her own nose up. But both her mindset and Caitlyn's reputation had changed over years. The pinkette got her ass handled to her too many times not to learn, she would have been a fish fodder had she not learned from her mistakes. Seeing the grand picture is one of those things that a competent thief has to do in order to make it. Which gang has the power in which district, how lenient the different syndicates are, how much of a bother can she make of herself before someone deeming her a nuisance enough to deal with.

It is not at all an exaggeration to say that for years, a war had been waged on Piltover's streets. Bah, martian law had been employed (which first required creating it) at a certain point. It was around that time that the city's military became something more than a band of mercenaries in service to a city state and in its place the well oiled and armed machine that it is now. Chaotic years, glorious for little fish like her as nobody on either side cared about small fries.

In the end the law won and Caitlyn was appointed a sheriff. The criminal world had retreated to the deep underground and it only dared to boldly rear its head recently in the wake of Jinx's arrival. For Vi it meant the end of lone act. She had to find a gang to run with in order to stay afloat without getting caught, she is not proud of what she had done in that time but neither does she regret it. There is blood on her hands but it is not clean, dealing with black market hextech is dirty business in which lives are only worth what they can provide.

And just as she thought. After the mine run fiasco she didn't manage on her own for very long before being captured. Cupcake caught her in less than a month after she got a moderate reputation for her dubious efforts. She couldn't believe how lucky she was for months, and even now she sometimes finds it incredulous in just how outrageously- as a certain acquaintance of her would say- lucky she is for Caitlyn not having her packed into a cell for the next twenty years.

She asked why, of course she did. It's not something that the audacious Enforcer could ever hold in. All the woman said was that she didn't survive her "little" hunt by having a stick up her ass about the people she used. Well, maybe- maybe not exactly her words but the message was fairly straightforward.

Vi is not the only ex-criminal in The Force. Only the most well known one, she did after all get some publicity thanks to her raids on other thieves and smugglers in the city. She knows for sure that Leeroy was working as a drug lord's heavy hitter once. No sob story, no bad circumstances, just unwillingness to stay in the dirt he had came from for the rest of his life as his honest, hard working father had.

How has Piltover changed over the years.

Looking at the pace the rest of the city is developing in, Vi gives this neighborhood about ten years before serious effort is put into remaking landscape. Mostly because the older residents have to first allow it. And they won't.

The Enforcer steps over a pile of bricks that came from a hole punched out by an explosion, strange. If Jinx was aiming at her pursuers then someone must have either been in the building or she had missed by a rather noticeable margin. Come to think of it, the scrawny bluenette did seem out of sorts when they fought earlier. Eyes going in and out of focus all the time, swaying on her feet and suffering from minor shivers that at the time Vi took for adrenaline induced. And she did miss that energy shot she meant as a farewell.

Say what you will about Jinx but she's a spectacular shot. Hitting a freaking pigeon one hundred meters away with a minigun? That's impressive. Took a shitload of bullets but still impressive.

So her aim must be off, good. She won't lament about that. Vi wonders how many people will she actually be fighting against. Two plus at least one dead on the street and another four she found on her way here. At least seven dead. Probably eight or nine. There were three trucks that she saw and there must have been some people on scene that got here otherwise. So twelve from cars if they went for standard fours and she'd guess at least two pairs at the beginning and end of the street plus spotters who herded the criminal into the trap. Twenty or twenty two people at the very least. And at least eleven left. And that's only those she's sure of. Plus of course Jinx.

Great. Well, a shootout like this must have been called in by now and backup is surely on its way. In the meantime- she has to figure out if the guys pursuing the Loose Canon are on her side or not. A group of headhunters this big isn't exactly a common thing but as long as they would cooperate, she couldn't care less. Still, these are more likely mercenaries, fairly good ones at that but who would have hired them? Big timers have their own people and these guys do not wear any insignias as both mercs and gangsters tend to.

They might also be less than thrilled to even have her around. She has no issue with that option, she'd welcome it even. Some skull cracking is long overdue tonight.

Slowly, she approaches the entrance to the tenement courtyard, a gate that must normally be closed at night is now open, no sign of damage done to it. The woman glances at the rooftops to check their height, low enough for Jinx to manage a jump. So it's the place they intended to get Jinx into, seems the plan has worked. From the sound of it though, the maniac isn't making things easy for them.

She can see someone on the other end of the tunnel, she can't see him clearly as he's not standing directly in the light but he hasn't noticed her at all yet, all his attention focused on something on the other side. He's taking pot shots every now and again, nothing more than to gain attention for a moment before jumping back behind cover. A distraction tactic to let somebody else close in on the target's position. Basic. And effective with enough firepower. Given the hailstorm of bullets flying both ways through the open space behind the man she can see why would they decide on using it.

Vi raises her guard and enters the tunnel, wary of the man's intentions, only now does she notice a door beside which the guy stands, open indoors and he's apparently guarding it. She stops some two meters away from him as not to startle him into shooting outright before speaking up.

"Hey." He immediately whips around and aims at her but doesn't shoot. It wasn't a gamble on Vi's part, not really. She has her shields built in for a reason. Maybe he knows that, maybe he's just bright enough not to shoot everyone on sight. She still can't really see his features even this close. "What's up?"

"None of your business." he replies in a bit raspy voice, like he'd been smoking for a good chunk of his life. "Get outta here."

So it's gonna be the hard way eh?

"See buddy that's where you're wrong. You gonna tell me who you guys are or I'm gonna ram your face through a wall. How does that sound?"

They both stand still for a couple of seconds, neither intending to back down. The standoff is broken by a whirling sound of a firing RPG, the man flinches at that, suppressing his instinct to turn around and see which side is shooting. Vi wastes no time in jumping towards him, gauntlets at the ready. His attention snaps back to her quickly enough for him to take a couple of shots at her but nothing even remotely close to break through her shield. Vi punches the man straight in the gut with enough power to slam him into wall hard enough that he coughs up blood after falling to the ground, eh, he'll live. Some things broken, sure, but he did pull a gun on her.

She promptly grabs the dazed man by his jacket and drags him back a couple of steps to make sure nobody notices her arrival. She prefers the opportunity to question him undisturbed. His buddies may decide to rescue or finish him off so he doesn't blunder anything important. Who knows, she wants to question him so she needs to get to relative safety anyway.

She props him on the wall where there is the most light, pulls a pistol from a holster on his belt and throws it away to where he dropped the riffle when hit. Most would've called it a safety precaution but for Vi it's just making sure he won't pointlessly struggle. She was told on her psyche course that disarming an opponent will make him comply faster. Personally, she always liked simply beating people up to a point they can't resist any longer but she sort of had to tone it down a bit after joining The Force.

A bit.

She hopes the guy is a mercenary, they're generally easier to make talk, there is only so much silence that money can buy.

She crouches beside the heavily breathing man and jabs him in stomach with a single metal finger to gain his attention. He gasps in pain and coughs violently, without blood this time, good. Hopefully there isn't too much internal damage. When he finally manages to look at her she smiles cruelly.

"So. How about we talk now huh?" Oh she doesn't expect him to talk just yet, he might either genuinely have some bravado in him or just think she's a proper cop. Protocol and all, hah! Doesn't matter, she has yet to meet someone who won't talk in the end. He only needs some persuasion.

"Go fuck yourself." he groans out, yeah that's about the sort of thing Vi expected he'd say. Really, it's funny how he still think it's up to him what happens next. She none too gently grabs his left forearm and her smile morphs into a shit eating grin.

"You know, I'd really be careful about the next thing you say." She has always liked interrogating people, or maybe it's messing them up during it, same thing really.

The man looks at the gauntlet gripping his limb and tries to move, without much success, managing only to slide down the wall some centimeters, finding his legs hardly responding. He looks at Vi once again with a scowl painted on his face.

"You wouldn't." And he sounds so sure of it too! Oh this is gold.

The woman is only too happy to prove him wrong. She squeezes her fist just a little too strong than she had to in order to move the bones in his arm. She's making a point here after all!

Her victim lets out an incoherent scream as the insides of his forearm move into places they aren't meant to. The Enforcer lets him squirm in her grip for a moment before releasing him. She lets him calm down enough to know he can think over the pain and grabs his jaw to make him look at her.

"So how about it? You gonna be a good boy or do I seriously have to rip your arm off?" Figuratively, she won't do that, that would be permanent and that's where Cupcake's line is drawn.

She could though. She knows that for a fact.

The man looks like he's about to spit her in face before reigning himself in. Good, for him. He must have realized how stupid a thing that would be in his position, but still- like a petulant child he turns his head away, determined not to say anything. One more little push (or two) to break the ice and he should understand she's not bullshitting him about their talk. What to do, what to do... eh, Vi likes straightforward approach and that's how she'll deal with this sod.

The pinkette leans back, drawing his attention back to her and then smashes him in the stomach, not too powerful of a hit but enough for his body to jolt on its own and fall over. None of that, Vi grabs his head and forcefully pulls the man back to sitting position by it, only to press her other gauntlet against his stomach and slowly push it into it. Causing the guy in front of the Enforcer to writhe in pain, sputtering curses and half-formed words all the while. The woman eases the pressure a bit and after a moment, suddenly jabs again. She releases his head and puts her gauntlet over his chest, pushing him into wall, denying full breath.

She should really wrap this up.

Vi takes hold of his hand and with some effort pinches the man's pinky between her metal fingers.

"No, wait, stop. Stop!" he coughs out, struggling to breathe. Finally. He's not used to interrogation is he?

"Did I hear you say stop?" she asks with a nefarious smirk while slightly pulling at his finger.

"Yes. Stop. I- I'm not loosing my- my bones for this." Oh she wasn't going to crush it, just break it out of socket, well. Maybe it would snap but accidents happen right? She pinches the finger a bit tighter but doesn't otherwise threaten to damage it.

"Great!" the Enforcer says with cheer in her voice. She can't help herself, getting someone to cooperate never fails to make her happy. "So again. Who are you guys?"

"Z-Zaun compa- I can't breathe!" Oh, yeah right she should let him so he can talk. She tends to forget herself sometimes in situations like this and no matter how many times Vi reminds herself to not get overly excited she still tends to do exactly that. The man inhales deeply, earning a coughing fit for his effort.

"What company? She looks into his eyes, looking for hesitation.

"Companies. Two. We..." Oh for- He screams as his finger is bent out of the socket. His own fault. If he's going to blab then he should at least tell what he knows and not try to bull his way out. It's not hard to see him thinking of a lie in such a situation. A moment of clarity in the pain clouded eyes.

"Say again?" she encourages him.

"Black contract," he gasps "we were sent. Paid without contract." Vi scowls at the following pause, it's like he's trying to make it hard on himself. She grabs a hold of his ring finger.

"Paid by who, sent for what, why and your groups names." He swallows with some effort.

"Didn't say or-or they did but I don't know."

"You don't?" The woman deadpans, threateningly bending his finger the wrong way.

"Yes! I'm telling you!" Huh, he's not lying. Pity.

And what a pain too. It's either their leader who has that info or it's his higher ups in Zaun. Which wouldn't be surprising given how it's a black contract. Naturally, somebody must know, they don't seem like upstarts and you don't get far without following some fundamental rules. Only assassins don't need names but that's because only idiots cross them. Mercenary companies keep their clients in books.

And it probably won't matter since more than likely the payment was delivered by a proxy. You don't just send one of your own to hire mercs for an illegal op. Leaving a trail like that is a sure way to get killed by the competition.

Regardless of methods, what business does their contractor have with Jinx?

Both the Enforcer's and her captive's heads whip to the doorway the man had been guarding as an explosion goes off somewhere in the building, somewhere deeper in. When Vi is sure it's nothing to worry about right now she turns her attention back to the man in front of her.

"Go on."

"We're told to bring lunatic's, eh, Jinx's head to Zaun. I don't know why I don't ask stuff." Not that he'd be told. Literally bringing a head back... This is wrong, something's wrong. "I'm from Magpies and the others are Herrings." Herrings? Vi heard of them, a small private army for hire if one were to employ all their sections at once. They made a name for themselves in Ionia during the early days of war, though Vi would be surprised if people that partook in that conflict were still in action. They are long past their prime after all.

Jinx's head. Wait.

"Where did you start the chase?" Hesitation, he's thinking about his answer.

His teeth clench this time, stifling the cry when Vi breaks another of his fingers.

"Academy! We- academy!"

Oh this donger fucked piece of shit son of a bitch! It was them. Damn it! She should have figured that out earlier, Zaunite mercenaries in Piltover. The city's mafias haven't changed their stance. It wasn't any of them that ordered the massacre back at the university, it were these cunts here. She knew local gangs wouldn't act so erratic as to first let the maniac escape and then waste men and effort to kill her themselves. The big ones that could pull this off are not managed by idiots, they wouldn't still exist if that was the case.

The Enforcer growls out a string of curses, they're not doing much to calm her but it's probably the only reason why the mercenary pinned under her gauntlet still doesn't have his chest caved in under a resumed pressure from the woman.

A rocket whips through the yard in direction of the Loose Cannon's side. Vi flinches when the explosion reaches her ears.

Jinx's head. Great, some creep back in Zaun wants Jinx's head. It wouldn't be enough for him to simply kill her nooo he has to get her fucking head! Damn it! Twenty of her colleagues dead because someone can't just have the girl killed and be done with it.

Mercs aren't all that creative, not the regulars anyway. Headhunters, while ruthless, avoid killing anyone who's not their target if possible. Those guys though must have figured it'd be easier to get their precious head if they let its owner get out of campus and then deal with her themselves. Headhunters would just sneak into a mortuary and get their head like that but no. Lets let the terrorist loose and even then-no, whatever. They can die all they want in Vi's opinion but to do that they've slaughtered all those people. Rust damned freaks.

Well in that case if they wanna pick a bone with Piltover's Police, Vi is more than happy to ruin their fun. But first.

One little detail.

She picks the now slightly purple mercenary and drags him close to the edge of the tunnel they're in before lifting him up to his feet, she grabs his head again to hold him upright and snarls as she sees his wordless plea for mercy. He should have learned to keep his mouth shut. Or just lie better. This is gonna hurt though honestly, Vi doesn't see him feeling it nearly long enough.

She hits a switch in her gauntlet and punches him as hard ash she can right in the stomach, sending him flying onto courtyard and falling some ten meters away from Vi. The firing stills for a moment as the battered man's presence captures others mercenaries attention. May as well use that while they're disoriented.

She stands with her back to the wall opposite of where the man she beat up stood and takes a look at the whole courtyard, putting her guard up to shield herself from Jinx, as she's not hidden behind anything from the side where the terrorist is apparently pinned down. Beside courtyard, out of four wings, only one is lit, the one where the terrorist was herded into. The state of the fourth floor tells her that this must be where she is. The dust has yet to disperse and Vi can't see through it. She turns head to the other side and chances a peek at where the mercs are. Six riffles stick out from windows on the ground floor, three more on the second floor plus there are probably more she can't see. They're set up close to a staircase if her memory recalls the general layout of these old buildings correctly, they're all built the same. Must be they've sent people up to fourth floor and through the connected wing to trap Jinx in the wing opposite of them to more easily lay suppressive fire. Hm, no matter which side the pinkette would approach them from it would be a little too much of a challenge to take out at least six guns at once without armor. Oh if she were in full gear right now...

She is brought out of her musing by a familiar sound of a certain minigun, its running clearly heard in the silence that fell over the area. She throws herself back into cover, unnecessarily. Jinx's bullets are meant for the man that has only managed to get on his fours till now. Pointless. Even if he wouldn't be killed by the maniac, his internal wounds would have finished him off.

And good riddance.

Screw the consequences. Cait can kiss her ass if she'd expect her to let any of those bitches live once she gets her hands on them.

The officer comes closer to the edge once again, only close enough that she can see the area around where the RPG hit.

Must be real tight in there, Vi too had once chased her onto a fourth floor once, but before she found her, the nutcase had an idea of throwing a bed- sheets and all- down the balcony, and then a second mattress. By the time she found the right apartment (with the help of its temporarily evicted- very much naked residents) and caught up with her, all that remained to be seen was Jinx throwing herself off the balcony's edge after her weapons. Vi was so dumbfounded at the sight that she could only walk to the railing and observe the insane girl slowly get up from the mess she had made down on the street. Obviously, her bones did not take kindly to this sort of abuse, if the way she limped away was any indication, but She was still ready to throw an insult (or two) her way. Something about her "fat ass" splashing on the ground. She must admit it made her think how light (or rather how sickly underweight) Jinx must be to have pulled something like this off.

Anyway. That she won't do something like that again means that she's under serious pressure, enough so that she can't take her eyes off her enemies for long enough that she could escape.

Or maybe she just didn't think of it this time. Vi wouldn't put it past her.

Enough with it. If she's to wreck the Zaunites plan she either has to take them all out, which doesn't seem plausible, even if she still had the element of surprise that she lost by throwing that merc to his death. But she doesn't have to do that does she?

All she has to do, can do really. Is make sure they won't get what they came for. Get Jinx first and hold out long enough for the backup to arrive. They will deal with them then.

So. Taking out a couple of trained mercs that know she's here and coming for them, without her knowing their positions or equipment. Going in blindly like that is just the sort of plan Caitlyn keeps going on about against making.

Plan. Pft- yeah right.

She smiles menacingly, rolls her shoulders and dashes inside the building.

* * *

Jinx falls flat on her ass, thrown to the ground by a shock wave of the rocket explosion. It's really getting pretty annoying how those guys seem to have so much more ammo than herself. Just come on! She used her last rocket before getting pinned in this stupid hallway and They said she has to keep an eye on a staircase, lest she wants the game be over tonight. She doesn't so she planted a rigged grenade there. But They say she has to leave! What. It's like They didn't get the memo when she killed two of her tails before getting here and then like a hundred more inside the building. The party is in full swing now and she's not leaving just because somebody says she must. She needn't do zip!

Ugh! They're ruining it! Everything!

She tries to rub sand out of her eyes but it's not really working. Where did it come from the criminal can't say but it's sand alright. All grainy and hurting and making her want to gouge her own eyes out. But Coats said not to, they make her not when she doesn't listen, strap her down so she can't move for a couple of baths, is that long? And how long is long? A shiver goes through her body, they're more frequent now, or maybe more like constant and some are just stronger. She feels both cold and hot at the same time and she doesn't like it one bit.

The girl latches onto the remains of a windowsill and drags herself somewhat upright, stupid ringing. It makes her head swim and she can't hear a caustic thing over it. And stupid lousy leg! Between her dizziness and how she can't stand on her left leg the criminal is having trouble with moving. Ugh, where is Fish... that a new contender down there? He's looking somewhat down if one were to ask her but hey, nobody does. Ever. That's the problem with having a reputation like she does, everyone just EXPECTS you to do stuff certain way... Not that they're wrong, it's totally her thing to shoot stuff up. She'd be disappointed in herself if it wasn't. Like- like seeing sea for the first time and discovering it's not blue at all. She had always thought it would be blue, it wasn't.

"Stupid sea," she creaks out, peeved at how she can't really hear herself over the noise in her ears. Her throat feels as if made of sandpaper, she has to hit a store on the way home. Actually, scratch that. She will endure on water.

She quivers at the thought. Or maybe it's just her body being dumb again.

The maniac grabs a hold of Pow-Pow and pushers herself away from the window, struggling a bit as to not fall over, then steps towards a hole in the wall that her newest acquaintances just made. Alrighty then, lets get back to it!

As the dust from explosion clears up a tiny bit, she trains her sights on the man in the middle of the courtyard. Her hands, though sticky and clumsy, manage go through the motions automatically and she breaks out in a wide smile. The guy tries to stand up but is given no such chance by the girl's friend.

Well that's a let-down, Jinx glances at the place the fire was last coming from and blows her cheeks out in amusement. They're still there, freaking wallflowers. They've been sitting there forever.

What, are they shy? Oh this is priceless, fifty people on her tail and all they go for is a safe kill. That's just sad, there were less than ten here right when she got into the building that were nowhere near as boring and some even without weapons! Though they had a puppy with them so it is kind of granted. And she's not sure what was that cutie fed with but it tore through her boot like it wasn't there. Aw well. Stupid mutt is sniffing flowers from down under so she can deal. It was fun though, she has always known she can count on animals to try their best. Unlike those stinking losers out there.

Ugh, she's gotta teach them how to play.

Heh. Her. A teacher. Fishbones would think it an excellent idea... where is he anyway? She had him right- well he was with her a moment ago and she sure as a clock didn't let him go off alone. Hah! Like she would ever. He's stuck with her forever!

She stumbles back behind cover not caring for the bullets whizzing past her, she spares a moment to look at the cloud of dust coming through the doorway behind which she rigged some grenades so that- because-

She shivers and turns to a doorway on the other side of the hallway she's cooped up in.

"Fishbones?" she calls quietly, she thinks, her throat doesn't hurt. Not without effort she clears it and shouts. "Fishbones?!" Jinx puts a hand to her throat. Yeah she definitely shouted just now. Where in cogs did he go? She doesn't exactly NEED him seeing as she doesn't have rockets for him any longer but if he's being stupid for the sake of messing with her then he's gonna wish he never even thought of doing that. He's supposed to be here, with her and not somewh- oh, he's on her back. Good. For him.

"We need to get out of here." She can't really hear him but somehow knows exactly what he's saying. Oh, so she's worrying for him. Ripping her hair out and the first thing he does when she finds him is being a drag. She's so getting rid of him. One day. Jinx shrinks her minigun and pulls Zap from his holster before answering.

"Fishbones... you're such a bore sometimes." She finds herself smiling in spite of being annoyed at his attitude. And it is hilarious, really! So much fun to be had and all he wants to do is turn his tail and run. It's just so- Fishboney.

Heh, turn tail. Fish. She turns head to look at her friend.

"Hey Fishbones, don't turn your tail now." Her following giggle sounds more like coughing than anything else.

"...really?" Her smile quickly turns into a frown. Aww c'mon, that's hilarious!

"Whatever." She dejectedly murmurs under nose and turns away from him.

Jinx eyes a destroyed passage door with a degree of annoyance painted on her face. Some four guys broke it while trying to encircle her. And retreating into the apartments again is not much of an option now that she has no explosives on her. She didn't even drop one of them for good, only got some of them good enough that they aren't running marathons anywhere in the future, if they pull through. Not much left of their legs but the shreds splattered around. Her rocket went wide. Again. Actually... now that she thinks about it, maybe it's Fishbones' fault! She doesn't miss like that, just doesn't. She's a great shot, oh they're gonna have words once they get to their hideout.

First things first though.

She is sure the chickens are just waiting for her to try and step out of her little corner. The seven she sent packing must have gotten to their buddies by now. Well. This is gonna be fun. She wasn't in a spot like this since she left Zaun and it's exhilarating, a bit painful too yeah, and the constant shivers are slowly getting to her but eh, details.

Overall? What a night!

The maniac pushes herself away from the wall and supports her weight on her left leg, not able to stand on the right one for longer than a couple of seconds before the pain makes it unbearable. She swipes the unruly hair strands back and blows her fringe out of the way. All the excitement has made her hair a mess, more so than usual anyway and it keeps getting in her eyes.

A sound manages to pierce through the ringing in her ears. And only now does she realize that excluding the ringing, it got silent, that's the only reason she even takes notice of this new sound. Somewhere to her right.

A big chunk of concrete falls off the wall. She turns her head lazily and blinks as she sees the shattered remains of a bullet sticking out from the hole. Huh, yeah it's probably a good idea to move someplace less exposed. If this keeps up they're gonna roll out a freaking tank any second and that would be, well, awesome actually- but that's not the point! She's not losing, here nor ever. She survived her tangle with the Zaunite military, these jokers here are nowhere near their level and she's not going to insult her favourite soldiers back home by dying. Hah! Like it's even an option.

The maniac glances towards the ground as the falling piece of wall shatters into smaller chunks. The riffle must be strong enough to rip an arm off if it hit a shoulder at this range. Or pulverize half her guts, nasty. A smirk graces her lips at the thought. Sniper riffles are great and all but just not her thing, she has good aim- well most of the time anyway, but no patience to really have use for them. She experimented a lot in Zaun and her friends are the best she has ever met.

She rubs her slowly recovering ears and starts hobbling towards the battered doorway, making sure to drag herself under windows on the way, they have a sniper so it's a baaad idea to try and just jump from solid wall to another, she'd get her brain blown out for the effort. Not a great way to end the night, dumb, especially with her messed up leg, can't do it, no way. It would have been a fun game if she hasn't gotten her ankle messed up but well. She has. And it still hurts every time she crawls beneath windowsills, as do her palms and knees when she cuts them on the shattered window glass but beggars can't be choosers.

Jinx reaches the door and stops under a last working lamp when she hears a muffled noise. Alright, action! It is somewhat of a new experience to the girl, not being able to run during a fight as she would surely just trip over her slow leg. She broke an arm once but it hardly compares to the bother that a halfway working leg is. Sure, bitten ankle is not as much pain but that's not the point. She can't run! And that's kinda a thing she does like, all the time.

She puts right shoulder to the wall, bites her lip in pain as she readies Zap and grins when she's about to step from behind cover. The girl cranks her friend up to the maximum and jumps (trips really) from behind cover.

Huh. Nobody's there. But she can still hear-

* * *

Vi stumbles forward from the momentum her strike carries and she's about to raise her fists again when she notices.

Out like a light.

Vi can't help but think of how anti-climatic this is. After all the trouble she's been put through by the terrorist, she finally got her by surprise and without a fight. And she's fairly sure she wasn't all that quiet, nah no never mind. She was LOUD. Or her gauntlets were to be specific, she power charged half the distance and the girl still didn't notice.

And looking at her sprawled out body she has an idea why.

Nicks all over her body, must be from all the explosion debris, blood oozing from her ears, some of it dried so it's not all Vi's own doing. The Enforcer can't tell how bruised she is from under the dust and bloody filth smeared all over her skin, she's dirtier than at the campus even, though her punch just now will surely leave a giant bruise under all that. The scrapes on her elbows and knees look like they'll scar, there is glass stuck in her... everything- and what the fuck happened to her right leg?

She forces down the bile rising in her throat.

Strange, she imagined this very moment many times, how she would catch Jinx. Beat her to to a bloody pulp in a fight and then stand over her battered body. She imagined wiping that insufferable smirk that she damn near always wears off her face. Permanently. She imagined how good it would feel to stand over her defeated, defenseless nemesis and hold the mad girl's life in her hands just as she does now. And she had full intent of carrying her fantasies out. But now that she finally can... none of that seems so appealing anymore.

Maybe because of the sorry state she's already in. Vi doesn't have any qualms about kicking the lying but this? She looks... miserable is the only word she can come up with. The pinkette just feels- empty, no sense of victory, no joy taken from it. There is some relief deep inside her but the fact this is still not over doesn't let it truly surface. This whole night is one giant mess and it has yet to end. She can't really feel happy about getting the terrorist after everything that happened. Damn. Somehow, she always thought it would come to this one final chase, this one on one when she would have bested Jinx. Honestly? She feels robbed, of that and of the opportunity to mess her up herself.

Vi can't tell if she would go through with killing her, now that she looks at the scrawny, hurt body.

When she's in PCPD's custody it'll be at least a month before she hangs. Or maybe be seated in an electric chair, probably chair. With time for an official trial and all that garbage so that she cleans up and heals enough to look presentable for an open execution as to not cause pity with her looks. And that's what's coming, there is no way she can be offed silently like a simple murderer, no, there will be media, the key members of the administration, basically everybody who's somebody. And she can understand that, logically, it will be a big day for Piltover after all, gears. There may even be a holiday made out of it later on. It's messed up, she should die, yeah but making such a spectacle out of it is simply disgusting.

Regardless, it would be good to know why is her head worth so much effort on the Zaunite mercenaries' part. She's curious how big must the payment be for them to still go at it, traditionally, half the payment is upfront, a reasonable percent of it goes to the company itself and the rest is split between the participating mercs. Must be one giantic sum for them to fight for it like this. Maybe even big enough for the company to send another group for this assignment should the first one fail so that it doesn't have to give the payment back, along with taking a hit to its reputation. It's a worrying thought, something to share with Caitlyn later.

For now she needs to deal with those that are already in the city. She got three on her way up and she wasn't holding back, they're a bloody mess right now. There was a forth one but him Vi found already dead, missing a leg and lying under cracked stairs. Either a mine or grenade from the looks of it. One might call the Enforcer's methods violent but she doesn't care. She might have had some leniency for them had they not killed those twenty officers. Now? There is none left. And there isn't a reason to hold back either. The Sheriff might not like it but it's not like anyone will file a complaint or something. Black contract, they're not here, and besides they're Zaunites. Their laws and papers aren't worth a damn thing in Piltover.

She crouches next to Jinx and-

...fuck she forgot to take cuffs from the car. Ugh, she's so used to having all the stuff she needs in action on her and tends to forget about such nuances when out of "uniform". While she does have a proper PCPD outfit, Vi prefers wearing real armor into action, she can also attach a power pack to it to easier use her babies. It's not necessary but they are heavy and extended combat without it can be tiring. Shouldn't be a problem here though, It won't be longer than five minutes before backup shows up so she only has to worry about staying alive till then. She could try and escape though that probably wouldn't get her very far, not if she wants to deny the mercenaries their prize.

So staying here is the only option. She doesn't like the idea of risking her life for the maniac but if it means messing up those fuckers' plans then she's in.

She rips the two of Jinx's belts off her waist (and there are still two more left), then promptly ties the girl's hands behind her back and then does the same with legs. The officer glances at the long hallway and makes a decision, they have to move off this floor. It may give them some more time before she has to fight who know how many mercs at once, she's not that good on defense. With that in mind the woman picks Jinx up and throws her small frame over left shoulder, wrinkling her nose at the stench coming off of the bluette. She's about to leave for a lower floor when she realizes something.

The Loose Cannon's weapons lay on the ground, with the exception of the shrunken, pink minigun that is still hanging on its strap by the bluenette's side. The rocket launcher she can leave, it requires specific RPGs but the energy pistol?

A memory of writhing on the cold concrete flashes through Vi's mind.

No. No she's not leaving that here, gears, she can use it if she wants to. Though it would require taking off her gauntlets to pull the trigger so there is that. Whatever she does, she's not leaving this here for anyone to pick. The shark-like weapon she can abandon though. No point in carrying stuff she doesn't need to. She delicately picks the weapon up and after moment of consideration, sticks it in a pocket inside her jacket.

With that done, she holds her captive with one hand and after bracing herself, smashes through the floor. She's not using unchecked stairs after seeing the effects of someone doing just that a minute ago.

The woman falls on her right side with a painful grunt but manages not to let Jinx go, she quickly rises to her feet and looks around, the corner connecting two wings of the third floor looks precisely the same as the fourth's with an exception of it not being coated in blood and holes in the walls. The Zaunites shouldn't have seen her making it to the lower floor, heard maybe but she could have as well crashed through a wall. If she wants to remain unnoticed then she has to move and now. Going back to the lit wing isn't an option, she could crawl under windows if she left Jinx but she's not doing that. So she has to get into one of those apartments, both to buy time and force a close quarters fight. The bluenette must have stayed out in the hallways because it was the only way for her to fight. She can't use all her arsenal effectively inside flats. It's the same thing for Vi and open spaces. Enough firepower and she won't even get close to the shooters.

She moves her passenger a bit as her minigun was pinching her in the shoulder and briskly walks over to the second door. Looking out of the windows on her right for any signs of activity, she catches the last of riffles disappearing from the windows. Shit. She better move it before they start looking here.

Not wasting time, the Enforcer smashes the door open and barges inside, she quickly half-closes the ruined door behind herself and takes a look around. Small place, small kitchen and one room on the left plus a bathroom straight ahead, all connected by a narrow anteroom she's in right now. No clothes on a rack. Good, a civy here would be a a disaster waiting to happen.

She passes the kitchen and makes her way into the room, dropping her captive on a couch there. There's a balcony here if they really have to bail it, three floors fall is still a bone shattering one but it's better than death. She'd be sent to Ionia for healing and rehabilitation if she pulled through. While Piltover has made great strives in medicine, the technology, or even hextech that could recreate shattered kneecaps simply doesn't exist and Ionians are the best magical healers there are. Damn, still not a pleasant thought. Better avoid that outcome. She opens the balcony door nonetheless.

Her brain stops for a second when she hears a groan coming from the couch.

In the dim light cast by street lanterns she can see Jinx minutely moving, groggy and uncoordinated after just regaining some measure of consciousness. Wait.

The pinkette jumps over to the girl and quickly snaps the strap that the minigun is hanging on, then throws the weapon to the other side of the room. The maniac has an astounding capacity for escaping. Better not risk it, even if she doesn't look to be in a shape to do as much as stand straight right now. The cop walks over to the doorway and peeks outside, making sure nobody is sneaking up on them.

"Wha... Fathands?" She throws her captive an annoyed look, only after a moment realizing she probably can't see it all that well in the dark.

"Shut up, we're hiding."

"You- hi," she rasps out weakly and as expected, doesn't listen. "I'm gonna puke."

Ugh. The pinkette turns back to watching out for intruders, determined not to look as the sounds Jinx is making fill the silence, followed shortly by a putrid smell of vomit.

"Fishbones? Zap? Where are you?" Oh for...

"They're here," she lies smoothly to shut her up.

"Fishbones! Where are you?!" This fucking idiot.

In a couple of long strides she gets to Jinx's side and takes a folded blanket from under her head to rip out a sizable chunk of it.

"Oh hi, hey. Hey Vi- Vio- pft. Heh, no I- I ca-"She bursts into a fit of high pitched sounds, vaguely reminding Vi of scratching on something." Yo- your name!" What is probably her laugh is cut short when Vi shoves a piece of a blanket into the girl's mouth. It doesn't stop her from trying to speak but at least it's not loud now.

She goes back to the door- and comes face to barrel with a gun when she looks outside, instinct overtakes her without any thought and she throws a quick low punch, knocking the man half a step back. It's instantaneously followed by another punch to the off-balance mercenary's chest, knocking him into his companion behind. She fully steps out of the room and with a third punch, throws them both out of the flat, she squints her eyes when the light from the hallway hits her eyes and steps back into cover. They must have turned the lights back on in the whole building.

Her eyes widen when she hears a telltale click of a removed safety pin.

Without hesitation, Vi jumps to the couch and kicks it over, much to its resident's vocal, if muffled displeasure, and throws herself behind it, her landing "softened" by Jinx's boney body. It's entirely possible it hurts Vi more than if she fell on hard ground. The girl she has landed on looks somewhat green.

Maybe staying in a closed space wasn't such a good idea after all. Wait, are those sirens wailing in the distance?

Not a second after she takes cover, a grenade goes off in the room, the shock wave shattering all the windows and leaving the Enforcer grinding her teeth at the sudden ringing in her ears. But no time for that, she scrambles from the ground and punches the couch aside. She raises her guard while activating a shield on left gauntlet and moments after, the first mercenary steps through the now broken door, riffle raised.

Bullets impact the shield nearly right away and Vi wastes no time in closing the gap between them, a second man shows up in the doorway. She misses the first hit as her target jumps out of way and further inwards the room while the second one fires at the policewoman. He manages to break down her shield before she sweeps his weapon aside with the right gauntlet and hits a power switch inside her left one before punching him back to the anteroom with enough force that a closet he lands on shatters.

She whips around with her right arm raised to protect herself from the other guy and prepares to charge at him, only her shield is not up and the bullets dig into her baby's metal. Oh he's so dead.

Vi charges at the man but just as she's about to rework his insides, a bullet pierces through a weakened layer of her gauntlet and bits into her forearm.

With a shout, Vi lands her punch this time, sending her adversary right out the window, his scream is abruptly cut off after but a couple moments. She turns towards door once again and lets her right arm fall down to her side, although the pink-head tries, she can't raise it up again. Not with just under a dozen kilos of metal weighting it down. With a grunt of pain she flexes fingers inside and lets the gauntlet fall to the ground with a heavy thud. She glances at the wound.

"Aw fuck." It hasn't gone all the way through and gears can she feel it!

Still, she can move it without the additional weight and that's good. A bare fist punch is better than none. The noise outside is stronger now and she can definitely tell it's police sirens. Finally, only a moment longer before the night ends at last.

A movement catches her eye, the man she had punched through the doorway is being dragged away, she jogs to her defensive spot and peeks out of cover, only for a fraction of a second as what she sees are guns trained at her. And dongers, they're going to throw another grenade. Next time they go in she'll be overwhelmed and she can't charge at five people ready for her with just one gauntlet. Through a wall or door, no way she can get to them.

But she doesn't have to.

She whips out Jinx's shock gun and puts her trembling fingers on the handle. It better be as easy to aim with as it looks cause she only has one shot. The Enforcer presses her back to the door-frame and with some pain and effort raises both the gun and gauntlet up, one to act as a shield and second to be ready when the time is right.

Click.

She lunges from her spot and shields herself from the oncoming fire, at the same time training the maniac's weapon on the man with a grenade in hand. A pull of a finger later she jumps back to the ruined room without looking if she hit the mark. The resulting curses and shouts to run are enough to let her know that yes. The stupid gun is in fact as accurate as she has hoped it would be. How ironic.

A wave of compressed air passes over her as the dropped grenade explodes. Vi stands up and warily looks outside her little fortress.

A massacred body of the man she shot greets her eyes.

Vi can hear the police cars parking under the building, orders being shouted and boots hitting the ground. But nothing outside of the little apartment.

She lets the gun and her other fall to the ground and leans her back against wall, sighing tiredly. What a night.

Her thoughts are disturbed by a sound very much like choking coming from somewhere in the room, and looking at the source of it, she sees Jinx struggling not to suffocate on the piece of material in her mouth. Without much though, the officer walks over and tiredly sits beside the girl before taking the offending blanket shred out of her mouth.

The mad girl catches a couple of desperate breaths before she starts puking her guts out all over again.

* * *

Yeee, Vi goes in for the rescue bebeeeeeee! Avalanche style!

And Jinx. No, your jokes are just bad.

God damn! Finally done with this segment and fuck me. It was hard to write. I spent whole Christmas break finishing this up. And I had most of it done beforehand. This chapter, see, had great many crossroads on which a road had to be chosen. I finally know how the arc 1 of the story will end and how the 2 will start so I guess it was worth it. And I like it too, character development and all that shit right?

Also. 13. Thousand. Words. Why. Why do I do this to myself?

It took me four hours to revise this piece of work. And the entirety of it took me no less than 40 hours of writing and who knows how many more of hammering out plot.

I need help. Send help. Pls.

And yes. I fucking went there. Caitlyn now has a surname :D Revised on 17.01.2015


	13. 2 - 1

The first thing Caitlyn sees after stepping out of the car is a bloody mess of a body splattered on the paving. Not quite enough damaged for the fall to have been a very high one. Four floors at the most, the man's skull is caved in but not the mush that one sees on most of high fall cases. Extensive hemorrhage, oh but naturally. Lying on broken glass. Fell after breaking windows. Explosives.

The woman throws her gun's strap over her shoulder and puts on her hat. Her dispassionate eyes glance up and briefly inspect the damage done to the apartment windows three floors high with the help of a magnifying glass of her headgear.

Definitely explosives. She should send Vi to hospital for an internal damage check... No. To the main department's infirmary. The initial report mentioned her suffering a gun wound, if she managed to fight after the room was blown up then she shouldn't have suffered anything worse than some superficial damage to the inner ear. Hopefully. Should medics discover something posing serious danger to her Enforcer's health then she will indeed be staying in hospital. Again. Maybe she should tease Vi with such a possibility as it is sure to get a rise out of her. No, too inappropriate given the situation, she will reserve joking until everyone's burials. Twenty officers, seven civilians and eight (that she knows of at least) more bodies of the trash responsible for the disaster this night has become. A communal grave is all they shall have.

Were the Sheriff a lesser person, she would simply dispose of those bodies in a dumpster somewhere, for rats and worms to feast on them. Actually...

Come to think of it, she can sneak a corpse or two away and plant them in places where she knows that gang activity occurs yet she simply has too little evidence to warrant a full crackdown. A sufficiently mangled body might come to be handy in finding such evidence.

Come tomorrow she will have to speak with the coroner.

Among great many other things she will have to do. Like announcing her leave of absence in two weeks time. It's annoying but necessary for her to maintain her position without instigating a conflict between herself and the administration. Possibly the military and statesmen too. No, it's better to allow an investigation in regards to her competence, they will find nothing, there is nothing to be found after all. Her men won't speak out against her, tonight's deaths could not be prevented with the intel she had at disposal and Jinx herself had always slipped through the PCPD's fingers like water.

Some might object to allowing Jayce and Ezreal to participate in the action, as they are technically civilians. But the Prodigal Explorer won't be in Piltover for more than a week at most. Thus, he won't be able to give his testimony, that particular charge will have to wait long enough for the investigation to go on without it. And Jayce?

Frankly, it isn't even the most blatant vigilante act he has ever done. And that one is on Vi's head anyway, not that she won't help her subordinate defend herself, should the need arise. In all honesty though, it shouldn't be necessary here. She has finally caught Jinx, whoever tries to move against her now will undoubtedly have to do so against the entirety of the city's populace. The control won't go against her under such circumstances, media pressure can crack anyone.

Caitlyn herself has always either tried not to be in its crossfire or be the one that has media support. Not that hard, usually. Bar Jinx- she never was unsuccessful in capturing a criminal and it isn't a difficult thing at all to make it seem like those criticising her, do so out of spite or their own self-interest. Not quite so in reality but the fact that everything she does, she does for Piltover remains true all the same.

The brunette's eyes scan the entire area in search of the Enforcer, but it's her voice that captures the woman's attention. She sharply turn on her heel and marches toward the medical truck where she suspects the curse has came from. All in all a good sign. One showing that Vi has enough strength left to curse so loudly. She catches the sight of Jayce stepping out of another truck in the corner of her eye and tilts her head in direction she's heading to.

She had wanted him to leave already but he has refused to do so, insisting that there is no way he's leaving before seeing Vi and that he's not leaving her alone to deal with this mess either. She didn't argue the point as she knows he would just come on his own. He's a good friend, if nosy and a bother to deal with at times. Like when he takes over her home and all but forces her to go to sleep when all she really wants to do is work the night. There are always things to be done and she's only a little bit tired. One of the benefits of sleeping through days. It will be nice to have someone to talk with though, when the guilt for tonight's deaths will hit her. Probably in the morning, hm. Does she have enough food in the fridge to make him a proper breakfast or will she have to treat him to a cafe?

Though when she thinks about it, it's much more likely he'll end up paying for everything if they do go somewhere, and they probably will. She doesn't keep much more than tea, rusks and jam unless she's expecting guests. Oh well. She hadn't had the time to relax like that in a long time, and Jayce's company isn't unpleasant. It might be a good idea actually, to have her mind uncoil before having to deal with everything the day shall bring. Now, which place to choose, somewhere remote, preferably so that rags don't catch the wind of it. There will be enough press to deal with without adding her rumoured (and non-existent) love life to that list.

A thought for another time. She knows the city's layout by heart and she can plan this after returning home. The Defender of Tomorrow falls half a step behind her as they round the corner to see Vi, sitting on the floor of the ambulance's back. Indeed looking rather haggard and messy but seemingly not in a particularly bad shape. Her left foerarm bandaged and her right one in a sling that is just being finished up by an attending medic.

The scowl on her face is immediately replaced by a wide smile when she sees them approaching, it never fails to remind Caitlyn of a dog seeing its pack, neither is she ever sure if the comparison is insulting or not. The pinkette makes to stand up but is firmly pressed back down by the bulky man dressing her sling. Mathias, Caitlyn's memory supplies the name to his face. He's the one that Vi is most often given to after she inevitably gets wounded in action again. The only one that isn't in the least bit hesitant to personally strap her to a stretcher when she starts acting up, insisting that "She's fine." The Enforcer shoots him a dirty look but doesn't say a thing, for his part, the man simply looks to the Sheriff, nods in greeting and rolls eyes in mock exasperation at her deputy's actions.

"Hey Cupcake!" Calls Vi, obviously trying to sound chipper but only managing to expose the fact that she's tired instead because her scratchy voice. "And hey Jayce, one crazy night eh?"

"That's one way to call it," he grunts out and turns to Mathias. "How is she holding up?"

"Doc here says I'm good and ready for-" she abruptly chokes on her words as the medic in question ties the last knot with way too much force than strictly required.

"She-" he begins, addressing his now cursing patient before turning eyes to Caitlyn "Will let her medic speak for her. Nothing major, a bullet bit into her arm through that glove-"

"Gauntlet!"

"-of hers. No lasting damage. Same with her left arm, the bite will leave an ugly scar though. I recommend a week off, then a check-up to see if she hasn't contracted anything and to decide when can she return to active duty. Though I do suppose she's already on a leave anyway so, if you would please make sure she stays down? Now, excuse me but I need to go." He steps down from the truck and says his goodbyes before walking off. "Take care Vi, good night to you Sheriff, Defender."

"Yeah sure, whatever." grumbles the pinkette before leaning back and sighing. "My ass will wilt if I sit on it so long."

"Are you volunteering for paperwork?" The older of the two women smirks as a panicked expression crosses her officer's face. "I'm sure I can arrange for-"

"No no no! No. I'm fine, perfect, forget I said anything." Jayce chuckles and leans on a car beside them. Apparently content to listen, now that he's made sure his friend is mostly alright.

"Don't worry I'll get you something light, showing children around the office maybe." She wipes the smirk off her face, replaced by the more familiar, neutral expression. "But that's in a week, I've already heard the gist of it on my way here but I want you specifically, to tell me what happened here."

Vi scowls and scratches the tattoo on her neck, gearing up her tired memory.

"Fuck, I don't know. Mercs- they got a contract to bring Jinx's head to someone in Zaun. I mean literally." A vague wish to sigh tickles at the back of Caitlyn's mind, reminding her how Vi has performed a field interrogation without permission again. It's annoying when the younger woman does that and doubly so now since it's the reason why they have not taken even one mercenary prisoner. "They killed our guys at the campus and cornered her here. Would've taken her out too. You been inside yet?"

"Not yet, no."

"Yeah well they forgot to bring a tank." She pauses for a moment before snorting. Of course she'd find it funny. "Fourth of the building's screwed, they weren't holding out. Uh, Herrings and... damn I don't remember right now-" Wonders of a field interrogation, no written testimony. Technically, she's allowed to perform it under extraordinary circumstances but it's still a rotten deal every time, Caitlyn will have to prep the body if Vi's methods were too obvious. "-whatever- it wasn't a shootout, it was a fucking battle in there. Kinda surprised I got out with just this." She nods to her wounded forearm.

The Sheriff's eyes widen slightly at those words. If Vi thinks it was serious then the whole incident is something more than she had initially assumed. She has to see the damage by herself before deciding on anything but her instinct has yet to lead her astray. And it tells her that there is something more to know about these mercenaries. She'll have to ask Vi for details. Oh it's just bound to go over well should she report it. Evidence based on a confession from a dead man, wonderful.

"And Jinx?" She decides on changing the topic. Although Caitlyn doesn't truly feel anything right now, she knows full well how frustrated she really is beneath her calm facade. Best not stir the source of it.

"She's a mess. I think she's sick, uh, more than-" She groans in titanic struggle to find the right word. "-usual... You know. I mean I got her no problem, didn't even notice me, I think she's got her hearing blown sometime, or is just delusional- I don't know. Our guys took her to that med truck over there." She points to another ambulance a dozen or so meters away. "Prepping for convoy I guess?"

"Yes. I sent the order on the way here. They're just waiting for my go ahead now." She turns towards the pointed truck to asses its security before looking back to Vi. "Are you alright?" Her stony expression clashes horribly with the concern in her voice.

An easy smile spreads across the Enforcer's face at the question, a prelude to bragging about her endurance no doubt.

"Eh, had worse. Tired, yeah. But take that sling off and I can still beat people up." Not without permanently damaging it, the older woman can bet. Ah well, at least she won't have to stay in hospital again. Caitlyn herself is a very collected person and still she finds staying in such place dreary. For someone like the pinkette, it has to be absolutely unbearable.

"Good. Now, you will come to my office at... six PM, we will write your report down for forwarding." Vi's eyes squint in confusion at her phrasing. Her boss nods in confirmation.

"Oh." And that is all they need to say.

It isn't the first time they have to go over a report to make sure they will get necessary results after handing it in. Sometimes it's as innocent as putting the blame for some of Vi's property damage onto the dead criminals, sometimes it's about the way said dead winded up in their state. The results of an interrogation, threat assessment, things of similar nature. Unpleasant cases where it's a bad idea to have any dissonance between their reports or where some things are simply best omitted.

Like how comes Vi had interrogated someone and said person is now dead. Once the administration got a wind of it she'd be suspended from her duties and possibly charged with operational misconduct. And what for? It's enough that Caitlyn knows the truth and acts accordingly, nobody else needs to know where she gets her information from, and by the time the case is done she will have enough evidence to plant a false trail that supposedly led her to it in the first place. The end result differing in that her assets, Vi in this case, are not rotting away in prison. How pointless would that be.

Well, there is also Jayce but he's not any less implicated than either of his friends. To be completely honest, Caitlyn finds it quite humorous how the three of them skirt at the edges of the law, often outright breaking it, so that it may function. Even so, all the years after she helped establish said law, the ravenhead has yet to find a better way.

"Also, I want you to stay the day at the headquarters' infirmary- yes, I know you don't need to, but we haven't gotten all the mercenaries and tell me, do you want to deal with the reporters again?" The pinkette closes her already open mouth, at once seeing the merit of complying. "And I would personally appreciate it if you would."

She doesn't technically have to agree. Technically.

A tortured groan escapes the younger woman's lips as she leans away and throws her head back, looking at the semi darkness of the city's illuminated sky.

"Ygh, alright Cait you got me. Just- I gotta fix my babies, and as soon as possible okay?" Because of course that's the most important thing on her list. The Sheriff can't say she's surprised.

"So I've figured, I didn't say you have to stay in bed all the time. Just at the department, by all means, use the workshop if you so please." Caitlyn turns her head to the side. "Jayce."

"Yeah?" He pushes himself away from the car and walks over to her side.

"Do please keep Vi company, I need to see the site and give some green lights. Also, I don't suppose you want to be seen by an inspector so soon?" If one arrives before she's finished in any case. She has already planned the shakedown of his laboratory for the next week but he doesn't need to know that. She just wants to see the area alone and just telling him so would be quite crude.

And besides. She enjoys watching him flustered.

"Ah, I uh-" He hems, clearly at odds with leaving her alone and at the same time not wanting to go against her clear wish of being left to her own devices for the time being or risking a meeting with an administration inspector. "If you say so. Wouldn't want to step on your toes while you work right?"He flashes her a dashing smile, one that could perhaps fool her had she not known him as she does.

Quite like her own really, but her years of dealing with the officials as the sheriff of Piltover has taught her how to bury her personal opinion whenever she wills it. It wouldn't do to show contempt to the people who already make her life more difficult than it needs to be. Especially when she is the one that suggested the administration's creation in the first place. A necessary hindrance to keep the city in balance. She hadn't set out to create a police state all those years ago. She would have now, ashamed though she is to admit.

Without another word, she nods to both her companions and turns toward the truck where Jinx is supposedly being treated. She wants to see her before anything else, as if it's supposed to make a difference, it's silly really. But she still doesn't feel like all of tonight is completely palpable, seeing the terrorist in custody might just make it feel real. Or less dreamlike at least.

An entire Quick Response Group squad stands guard of the ambulance, every each one in full gear and on high alert. The Sheriff feels oddly proud at the sight, they're not doing anything really spectacular right now, true, but if she were to compare them to something when they're in action, it would have be a scalpel. QRG is a young force, barely two years old and yet it's already proven its worth on multiple occasions. Mostly at securing hostages and guarding assets, something she believed should be handed to a force created with these specific purposes in mind. She can allow herself to feel a sort of parental pride, after all, it is she who fought with teeth and nails for its creation and knowing the effects of the force's work, she can confidently say she was right in doing so.

None of the officers reacts to her other than with a quick glance to check her identity. Beside medics, she is the only person with permission to remain with Jinx at this very moment. She doesn't need anything going awry, she knows not what could, but it's better being safe than sorry. People can snap for seemingly no reason at most inopportune moments.

She quietly steps into the truck, careful not to disturb the work going on inside. The three medics' attention sways her way for just a moment before they return to their task, removing glass from the unconscious girl's... everywhere. Palms, forearms, knees, shins, and there is a lot, likely more than she can see as the layer of blood and grime that is coating the usually pale skin is surely concealing the smaller shards. There isn't an inch of her that's not coloured by filth or bruises. She's stripped of her boots and while one foot is heavily blistered, the other is somewhat ripped around ankle. The sight of her alone is repulsive but it's the smell that nearly makes Caitlyn gag, to put it in simple terms, she reeks. The smell of vomit, blood, sweat and sickness easily distinguishable from the sterile air of the ambulance.

She notes with a degree of annoyance that the criminal is not in any way restrained, not that there is much point to it when it comes to her posing a danger, as Jinx is not in state to do anything but roll over and fall off the stretcher, but it's still a violation of protocol. The one concerning the captive's health if not the medics' own. It would be very unfortunate indeed if she were to snap her neck due to falling to the ground. There were two such cases in Caitlyn's career, the first she thought a freak accident. The second made her curious about the injuries sustained during transport to hospitals.

The subsequent directive, forcing ambulance crews to indiscriminately restrain the injured during transportation, that was issued by the statesmen, might, or might not be the result of this research.

Yet she doesn't interrupt the crew in its work just to remedy that. They haven't yet moved out and in criminal cases it's the police forces' responsibility to make sure the subject is properly secured. Besides, writing a ticket won't speed things up and an update on their patient's state is due.

The woman takes off her hat and begins turning it around by the rim while her thoughts go back to the civilian casualties, nobody's fault really, well, except for Jinx that is. It's convenient that it's she who has killed them, in a twisted sense, if it were the mercenaries there would be a lot more trouble as a result as some of them escaped. For officers to die in action, while a tragedy, is not shocking. Since it is the Loose Cannon who's responsible, and since they have finally caught her. The fallout will be much smaller than what it could be.

She wonders briefly about just how many people has Jinx killed off the charts, before quickly pushing the pointless though out of her mind. Wasting time for the sake of shallow curiosity is something she can indulge in on her days off. And even then she prefers being productive. She recognises the value of letting her mind wander though, it's relaxing, and nothing more than that. Something to do while taking a bath, not while she's waiting to hear of her case's health. She can go over her speech for press conference again, the one that she's began preparing in her mind the moment she heard of Jinx's capture.

It's another minute before two of the medics lean away from their patient, one putting away the tray with glass shards and the other, tools with which he was pulling them out. The third one still fussing over her patient with a breathing bag.

"How may I help you Sheriff?" asks the one who's put his tools away. Thin build, greying hair, tired, probably overworked because of the chaos caused by the very patient in his current care. But calm, relieved by the belief that it's finally over most likely.

"I need an update on my subject's health. Is she good for transport?"

"Ah. She's not in immediate danger. I wouldn't say stable but if she's restrained from moving for some time and is flushed with antibiotics then she'll be fine enough in two weeks time." He looks back to the bluenette for a moment before sighing and motioning outside the ambulance. Caitlyn doesn't argue, she has seen what she wanted to. It's just a matter of forwarding the package now.

They pass the QRG detail and stop in a relatively non-crowded space before he speaks up again.

"I would also refrain from hands-on interrogation during that time, her ribs might give out and puncture her lungs. She's also malnourished and has a high fever, heavy internal hemorrhage. No doubt infection from what I think is a dog bite, so I'd watch out for that. Some other life-long conditions too apparently, but I would need to take her to the hospital for a diagnosis first." He finishes in a questioning tone, already suspecting what is about to follow.

Caitlyn will not risk sending a high profile criminal to a hospital and therefore endangering everyone in there, tonight has shown her that it can't be done. Even if she puts a heavy security detail there, what would it be supposed to do should the surviving mercenaries decide on attempting to finish their job? Civilian casualties would be unavoidable in such a place. Dealing with hostages is always sketchy and there is no guarantee that the potential attackers would even try taking them. Crossfire, death, slaughter.

Again.

"We're moving her to the prison infirmary for now. We've got our own equipment there."

"I assume I'm supposed to have a patient card ready for sending by the midday?" A note of irritation creeps its way into his words. The Sheriff can sympathise, she doesn't like it when her captives have to be transferred from under her custody either.

"You assume correctly. I will have someone pick it up in person, we need all the files as quickly as we can manage." She lapses into a momentarily silence before abruptly putting her hat back on and nodding to the man. "Thank you for your cooperation. I will give a signal for the convoy to move out in some two minutes."

He merely nods in understanding and moves back to his truck. Her dispassionate eyes follow his back for a moment before turning away in order of looking for the convoy's chief inspector.

No point in delaying this, if an attack is to happen then every minute they spend waiting is another that the potential enemy is gaining on them in terms of men, arms and location. Maybe she should have the convoy take a scenic route through the cleaned districts. Cutting it straight through gang infested territory is normally a bad idea. But this is Jinx, although the Force did not extend its hand to the criminals and vice versa, it goes as a sort of mutual understanding that neither side disrupts the other when the crazed terrorist is concerned. As useful to their goals the chaos Jinx has caused is, the bluenette acts like wildfire in that she has no specific targets. Mafias' property and men have been hit by her too and they probably won't mourn her capture nor passing. They might send flowers to her office even. They do that sometimes when she eliminates a mutual threat, cheeky bastards.

It is very much in their motto to take while they can and never look back. The maniac took a great part in the Piltovian crime resurgence over the last weeks, but now that she's caught? There is little point in breaking her out because while she would surely continue her rampage, who is to say it won't begin with their own illicit activities? Not to mention the crackdown that would be commenced against whomever was stupid enough to help the terrorist.

But a small chance is still one too large for Caitlyn to ignore- especially with the new players on board. While she doesn't believe anything will occur if the convoy goes through gang territory it might still happen regardless. The chance of an incident if they give the beaten mercs enough time to regroup and realise they yet have the chance to complete their objective however, is infinitely higher. Three percent (plus minus one) by her estimation after the loses they took, but she will only settle for a zero after the tonight's massacre.

And for the unlikely situation of coming under attack, she can always simply order one of her officers to put a bullet through the maniac's head. Legally too. The girl is a high value package that can't be let to fall into criminal hands, even at the cost of only giving her a post mortem trial. It wouldn't be the first one the Sheriff would have to go through. An archaic remnant of the past in her opinion but truthfully, it's not worth the trouble of changing the constitution's clause speaking of everyone's right to a fair trial just to add three words- excluding the dead. Truth be told, she thinks it morbidly amusing to see a judge addressing an urn and then sentencing it to endtime's imprisonment in a grave.

Oh how the press would love it.

Still, her job is to deliver Jinx to the supermax, safely if possible. As such, however much she wishes to simply have the terrorist killed right away, she'll give her the treatment she provides for every contained criminal. There is enough evidence to condemn her thrice over, so the woman doesn't have to worry about finding any more nor about prompting inmate violence. Which... might happen anyway. Best put the girl in a solitary for good measure. After her wounds are treated that is, which means assigning a guard detail to her while she's staying at the infirmary.

So much trouble to go through for the sake of a murderer fated to die.

But ah, there is the man she's looking for. Chief inspector Karl Stuntz. Recently appointed to his current position and apparently, still learning his ropes.

"Sheriff." He snaps a curt salute when he notices her approach.

"Chief inspector." She promptly returns the greeting although without clicking her boots. "I trust everything is in order?"

"We're only waiting for the green light Sheriff. Ready to go in one." He's certainly not in a rush. But a minute is still within acceptable time.

"Good. You're taking the convoy to the Lockbox. Straight away to the infirmary, no processing, she needs medical attention and full diagnosis. If bureaucrats try to slow you then tell them you're acting on my authority, a form if you please." He immediately takes out his booklet and hands it to Caitlyn, her own pen already in hand. "Also, why is the package not cuffed?" He winces, the sort of wince that people make when asked about something they know they've done wrong.

"Meds had to remove glass from her arms, said it could tear veins if disturbed."

"Then cuff her by the foot. The criminal is a B class threat, don't assume those harmless even with their teeth pulled out. Your lapse in judgement is notified, make sure not to make it twice because I won't be so lenient again." She pauses for a moment to let her words sink in. "You're moving through the most efficient route, if anything goes awry, terminate the package. Now carry on," she handles him the booklet with her orders. "your convoy has a go."

His face is set in a forced, neutral expression, one barely hiding the relief the man is feeling, he salutes her again before practically running off to follow her orders. By the book, she should have punished him for an operational misconduct but Caitlyn believes that a reprimand such like this will have the same effect without the burden of additional stress clouding his mind during the operation. On top of that, the PCPD is not at all overstaffed at the moment so having an officer in headlights for something like this is really not necessary.

The Sheriff turns to the ruined building complex, forcing her hands to keep themselves by her sides and not fiddle with the strap of her gun. She doesn't wait for the convoy to move out, her orders will be followed through to the letter, there is no need to watch it happen. Instead, she approaches the officers stationed by the entrance of the building. There is one thing she has to do here before beginning the real work, by no coercion other than that she forces upon herself. There are others that can deal with it but the day she stops will be the day she's either too old or fragile to serve, or the day she fails Piltover, her people and herself.

The ravenhead comes to a stop before her subordinates and a curt exchange of salutes later, in voice void of any emotion, she addresses one of them.

"Show me the live collateral."

* * *

And so the second arc begins with an interlude. I must admit, for a long time I thought that people blaming the university for the pace of their writing were bullshitting us.

They aren't.


	14. 2 - 2

Vi has never had a very high opinion regarding the HQ's workshop. It's not that it's poorly equipped, not at all, police officers with a variation of standard gear won't have trouble finding everything necessary to repair said gear when not wanting to wait for a gunsmith. Problem is, the Enforcer's gauntlets do not count as standard in any way. It wouldn't be so annoying if something really serious or really menial got destroyed too, like a pressure valve or just a stupid battery, one she can repair with precision tools and spare time, the second is just a damn fifty marks battery.

But no, what got damaged are pistons and servos. Rendering three of her gauntlet's fingers in state she prefers not to use in, lest she fancies breaking her hand when the grip snaps back, pulled by the loose, yet still operational parts. It's a good thing she couldn't lift her arm back when it got shot, if she had the strength to still use her baby... well, she probably wouldn't be calling it that at this very moment. More like a stupid, bloody, disgrace, if at all. Jayce would never let it go, getting her arm squashed by her own weapon.

Okay maybe he would. He's a decent sort after all and wouldn't laugh about the cause of her death. If she got her hand crushed, she wouldn't be sitting in the workshop, bitching about how there are no spare parts that she can use around here. More than likely, she'll have to visit a wholesale to get what she needs. Casual mech shops don't sell mining equipment.

The pinkette blows her cheeks and begins reassembling the gauntlet, yes she will have to take it apart back home but well. She doesn't trust herself not to lose something before safely packing it up for reference. Choosing spares by eye and then fitting them in is not something she'd like to do ever again.

Still, the prospect, she finds, isn't as daunting as it would normally be. She's most relaxed she's been in in a long time. And why would she not be? She had the first long (although not solid) nine hours sleep in a month. And it's not that she hadn't had the time before (she can squeeze in eight hours a day if she really needs to), but she just couldn't. It felt like every hour she took to rest was another that Jinx was free to do as she pleased.

She will never admit it to anyone but she's relieved to have this mess with Jinx over, maybe not completely but they can deal with the Zaun issue on their own terms. Without the threat of another bombing looming over their heads. The realization didn't hit her till she was given a bed in the infirmary but when it did, it felt as if her stomach uncoiled, and not in a good way, it felt like painful tension bleeding out of her body, where it had accumulated over the weeks. A damned mess it'd been for the first couple of hours before she finally fell asleep. And it wasn't much better in her sleep either when the dreams came, waking her up twice, once in the morning and then around noon. But when she finally got up she still felt better than she had in weeks. Almost like after a massage. Maybe there is merit to psych leaves after all, she always thought them bullshit.

She pushes the pressure meter into its slot and leans back, yawning. She might have had decent enough sleep but it's gonna take more than one night to get back in form. And not only because she's tired. Particularly because she hasn't been working out since Jinx's arrival. It hasn't yet put a noticeable strain on her performance but give it another two or three weeks and she'll feel her gauntlets' weight. But yeah no, not today, she will give her hand a couple days before that, enough not to start bleeding while benching, or at least should be enough. Given how she won't be able to lift her usual weight anyway what with the stupid wound.

She looks at the clock hanging on the far side of the workshop's wall. Thirty-seven past five. Ugh, still some time before she's supposed to meet up with Caitlyn and hammer out the finer details of her report. Well, their report. While Vi hates paperwork, she knows full well it's only because of these sessions that she's still in police, and that Cait is still its boss. She wonders how many other officers' work she puts her fingers in. There is no way she's the only one, they hadn't had serious charges against The Force put forward in months!

She takes a sidelong glance at the radio, briefly wondering about turning it on before remembering how the only thing on all Piltovian channels would be Jinx and her capture, Cupcake's press conference and perhaps even Vi herself mentioned as the captor. She should have expected such a juicy piece of info would fall into press' sticky hands by noon. She already had to break through the living dam of journalists waiting outside the headquarters when she went to grab lunch (or early supper, given the hour she woke up at), and those little shits know how to get under people's skin too. It was an exceedingly difficult struggle not to punch the fucker who all but accused her of causing the yesterday's deaths, the harpy of a woman's been itching to do so ever since she heard, Vi can bet. Asking it on the fifty meter walk from the station to the bakery and then still going about what would she say to the families.

Gears damned vultures.

If she had said anything? She'd say that she already killed most of the responsible for the massacre. And she'd say she will kill the rest, and shortly. She'd say it if Caitlyn didn't order her to show in her office at six to decide on official version of what transpired that night, after she's done with the more important stuff for today.

The pinkette listened to the press conference on the radio actually, it being a sort of celebration by the city's officials Vi thinks. That being the first reason that comes to her mind for this sort of thing. Putting on a show being the second, the Enforcer had learned even before joining The Force how important that can be. In this case, to ostentatiously show that the crisis is finally over. To put civies at ease, to feed the press, to let the underground know the leisure time is over. Crowd control, and nothing more beside smiling, lying faces, Vi hadn't had to be there to know that.

She glances at the clock again and curses under her nose when she sees that only a minute has passed.

Screw it, Cupcake will either have to bear with her or just throw her out the office, she is pretty strict about punctuality, when she says six she means six and not two minutes before or after. But honestly, Vi has no time to do anything else before the meeting, might as well twiddle her thumbs or walk in circles before the Sheriff's door if the woman is busy.

In a matter of minutes she finds herself in front of said door and about to knock (Cait hates it when she doesn't, Vi figures there's no need to annoy her boss any more than she has to today). Just as her fist is about to land on the wood, she hears a click and she finds herself standing face to face with a similarly surprised officer, a prison warden if his uniform is any tell, though she can't say of which complex. She doesn't pay attention to this stuff, there are seven prisons in Piltover. While not exactly her turf, if the timing isn't a coincidence then she'd chance a guess this guy is from Lockbox, the megamax for the worst of the worst. Homing half the death rows in the city, it might just be the most guarded prison on the continent.

The Enforcer steps back to let him by and returns his nod of greeting, he spares her a measuring once-over and wordlessly walks away. Huh. Cupcake's not farting around (though that shouldn't at all surprise her by now), not a full day has passed and she's already making arrangements for who she can bet is Jinx. And she hasn't even been transported out of the department's infirmary to a hospital yet.

She peeks into the office to see Caitlyn hunched over the desk, her brows creased and fingers massaging her eyes, her hair not quite the perfect cascade it usually is, no time for all of her morning rituals probably. And she has yet to notice her new guest, the woman has to be tired, she's very attentive of her surroundings on most days. Vi briefly entertains an idea of pulling a ninja on her while she's distracted but gives it up when she remembers her boots, not stuff of dreams to sneak about in those.

"Hey Cupcake!" She loudly walks inside and the older woman looks momentarily startled, her eyes briefly sporting this wide-eyed look that the world would benefit to see more often (at least in Vi's opinion, she has a feeling her boss would disagree though) before quickly regaining composure to shoot her subordinate an annoyed look.

"I distinctly remember saying six." Her tone is flat enough to make party balloons deflate.

"Yeah, uh, well. I was done with my babies and thought, hey, maybe we can start sooner and get this over with? You know, instead of burning time." The Sheriff's expression says clearly enough she has only heard "I was bored." in Vi's explanation. Wordlessly, she turns her eyes to a stack of prints in front of her for a couple of seconds before turning her attention to Vi once again.

"Might as well." She sighs, clearly irked but not to the point of directing it at Vi. "Sit, and tell me what exactly happened last night. From the moment we spoke over the radiophone if you please."

Vi puts her bag beside the clothes rack before doing as told and beginning the story, the Sheriff doesn't interrupt her subordinate, writing down her own notes, up to the moment the pinkette mentions the man she interrogated.

"Which reminds me, why is the man that was in your captivity dead?" The hard and mocking tone of her voice tells Vi that the question is purely a formality.

"Ah... well, Jinx got him."

The brunette frowns, irritated by her subordinate's dodging words.

"A development I'm sure you're grateful for, the bullets ripped him apart, covered up most of the signs of your... interrogation, yet I have to wonder how did he wind up where he did. I understand that he was being problematic, violence against captives is a whole other issue- but that I can understand even if not applaud. What I cannot understand is how did he end up dead after you secured him, as you said, in the hallway whilst his body was in the middle of the courtyard. Care to elaborate on the part where Jinx got him?"

Vi scowls and crosses her arms, leaning back in the chair.

"He said they killed our guys at the uni." The look in Caitlyn's eyes is knowing, though unapologetic. She knows full well what happened, she simply wants to hear the Enforcer say it.

"Which fails to explain how had his position changed by thirty meters after he said it."

"Urgh, yeah fine! I threw him there, lost my shit after he said it."

The brunette hunches in her seat and sighs, putting away the pen and massaging her brow.

"VI... you lost more than that. You lost a valuable prisoner who was only worth anything alive." There is a tired tinge to her voice, one Vi hates hearing. "And you lost your shit? Did you stop to think about something as basic as identification? Just that Vi! Faces, names- or at least pseudonyms, maybe more, things he didn't and now will never say. All that lost because you couldn't think straight for five seconds?" She doesn't sound angry, just cold. Vi has always disliked the cold Caitlyn more than the angry one.

"I couldn't reliably secure him, left alone anyone could pick him up." It is a sound concern but Vi can only wait for it to be decomposed by her boss. She always has better arguments. And yes, she knows now, and deep down- maybe even back then that what she did was a serious mistake, but it was not on the front of her thoughts at the time.

Caitlyn's eyes narrow as she shoots her an annoyed look before leaning forward and crossing her arms on the desk.

"Don't pretend you stopped to think about this Vi. And even so, what would it matter, one more or less mercenary in the basket makes no difference but his information could. I'm not asking you to change your methods, nor to even be less violent. The one thing I want is that you keep a cool head when it matters, to think about your actions. I know you can do it, you wouldn't be here in the first place if you couldn't." No. She would be rotting away in prison. "Keep that in mind." The younger woman bristles at the implication but she's cut off before she says anything. "No I'm not trying to threaten you. I'm saying you can, and have changed. It has worked out in your interest too but you still have a long way to go. As we can both see." She taps the notes she's been scribing throughout Vi's report for emphasis.

"Yeah okay I fucked up, yes, I know. We gonna spend the rest of the evening talking about it or can we move on?" She's being defensive, she knows. But she just wants this to be over.

"I wanted you to admit it." She picks the pen up again and her expression eases somewhat. "So that we don't have to have this sort of conversation again."

The tension partially seeps out from Vi's muscles as this time, she understands what Cait means. She wants Vi to improve her self control but not only, or even primarily for the good of The Force, but that of her own, so that she's not forced out of this life she's been building. So that she may be something more than a thief she once was. It's still not her business though who Vi wants to be.

Still, she can try. She doesn't have to like it but what Cupcake says is true, if she didn't lose it like she did then they might have been so much closer to getting who's behind the whole thing. As it is, she offed a goon, good riddance yeah, congratulations Vi, you got a foot soldier. Amazing.

"Alright. I get it." The Sheriff looks as if waiting for something more, not for apology, she doesn't care for those, being sorry changes little and besides. Vi doesn't feel sorry, just stupid for not juicing the opportunity she made. Assurance- Vi realizes, she wants her to do better, to say that she will do better. "I'll... I won't screw up like that again."

"Hm, I should hope not killing captives is not too much to ask for," she says, tone just barely hinted with grim amusement. The woman's brow creases a moment after. "Which, curiously enough, you seem to have remembered when it came to Jinx. Pray tell the difference."

"It is different." The pinkette pauses to gather her thoughts. How can she best describe it? "Those mercs killed our guys because they couldn't fu-" she bites her tongue and exhales through her nose when she hears her voice raising in volume, she shouldn't yell at Cait, it's not her she's got a bone to pick with. It's difficult. "Cause they couldn't just get her head from the morgue, nah- they have to do the job themselves. So they killed twenty people just to get her damn ten minutes later!"

"Reputation probably, can't have others do their work," murmurs Caitlyn.

"Whatever alright? I was just- so pissed! Fuck, I get angry just thinking about it."

"Obviously." The brunette notes dryly. "And you're often just as angry with Jinx, yet she remains alive."

"I said it's different. I don't think she plans killing, with her it just... happens. Like with an animal, you gotta put it down sure, but- we call her a monster and then 'normal' people show up." She air quotes while saying 'normal' and then crosses her arms, an upset look crossing her face. "She's a menace, and a killer yeah. but she's nowhere near those fuckers."

The older woman's eyes are focused as she listens to her subordinate, as if searching for something on Vi's face, which she probably is. She often knows people better than they themselves do, for her, listening to others isn't as much about what people say as much as what can she unravel based on her own knowledge. In Vi's experience, it's detectives' professional quirk. She wasn't fond of it when she first began working with Caitlyn, not at all, but over time she learned not to care that much, it's all she can do to keep herself sane when the other woman seems to know things about her she has no business knowing, she did expect being spied on (which had been happening for some time when she joined police, annoying, but given her background she couldn't have hoped for anything else) but the woman knows things about her that could only be guessed. And more (way more) often than not, she guesses correctly.

The woman's searching gaze switches to the duffel bag lying close to the door and then back to Vi again, eyes no longer inquisitive, apparently finding what she was looking for, whether or not she's satisfied, Vi can't tell. The Sheriff picks the pen up again, set on continuing their original task.

"This aside, what happened inside the building?"

"Just fighting, I took three guys out before getting to Jinx, there was a forth but already dead, and believe me I couldn't hold back with them, too many, and well armed." She waits a second, half expecting a comment from her boss before continuing. "I found Jinx on the fourth floor. Total mess, didn't even hear me coming. Broke through the floor when I got her and holed up in that apartment, you saw it yourself, and then it was just a matter of holding out till you came."

"And again, no survivors in our hands." The Sheriff says with a blank face and tone.

"Yeah holding back wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind back then." Vi answers bluntly.

"So I've seen. You pulverized those mercenaries' insides, broken bones, ribs piercing organs... clearly self defense that one though, so it shouldn't be a problem." The second part she seems to direct more to herself rather than her company. It takes her a moment to refocus on the present and motion her friend to continue.

"Well that's all of it, I think, when backup came they bailed right away. So what now?" Asks Vi.

"Same as always." Caitlyn smiles a humorless smile. "I've already spoken with the coroner, the bodies will be buried in a communal grave and and the one you interrogated will end up at the very bottom. Try to avoid journalists and don't answer any questions regarding the capture of Jinx, investigation in progress and such." The pinkette smirks, same old bullshit. And actually legit too. "As to our own casualties..." She drifts off and starts rolling the pen between her fingers. "We don't need people to know Zaunites killed them, the diplomatic relationship between us is tense as it is and-" What?

"What?" The pinkette starts on her chair an the Sheriff pauses for a second at the interruption.

"Official story will be that local mafias that got involved. Shouldn't be a problem to pass that, they've benefited greatly from Her rampage after all." She stops twirling the pen between her fingers and looks at Vi, straightening up in her chair while seemingly waiting for another outburst.

"No, that's not- what in cogs?! We gotta take it up with Zaun! I mean- they send two merc squads on our turf and we just gonna bend over and take it?" She's damn right she should expect Vi to get angry. What in cogs?!

"I never said we will not take action." Caitlyn cuts in sharply, almost angrily- at the implication. "Just that we won't tell what needn't be told. Yes, the investigation will be secret but it's how we need to keep it. We need to hunt down those left and make sure they don't stir any more trouble." She gives Vi a meaningful look. "And learn who's to blame for the last night's disaster."

"Well Zaunites! We know that much what else do we need?" Caitlyn sighs and looks somewhere behind the other woman.

"And how do we know that?"

Vi almost answers the question before it clicks in her mind. She blinks and sits back, she hasn't even noticed how she leaned closer towards Caitlyn. The Enforcer runs a hand through her hair, one thought running through her mind.

"Shit."

"Adequate I suppose. But it's not the only reason. Vi you are my officer. You've done more good since you've joined than most statesmen ever will. I wouldn't have them ruin you, but I wouldn't hide the truth either if it was beneficial to us." Of course she wouldn't, for Caitlyn, the city always comes first, but the younger woman believes her, that she wouldn't let any harm come to her because of what happened. She doesn't have to take her word for it either, the Sheriff protects her own, as long as they remain her own. She fucked up yes but it is that, a fuck up. Dirty cops on the other hand... suffice it to say she would never risk it even if she didn't care for Caitlyn.

"So why not? We risk a lot like this."

"Two- well, more reasons actually but two major ones. The first is that I believe this would risk a lot more than keeping it secret does." Vi frowns, not understanding. "Imagine, Jinx has caused colossal property damage along with fifty three deaths total... that we know of at least. Had the Zaunites not managed to corner her she would likely continue for some time yet before we either killed or captured her. Most statesmen are either businessmen or have connections with them, and this whole mess cost them a lot of money. You understand now." It's not a question and Vi does understand. "I can't predict how far it would escalate but what I know is that beside a gentlemen's agreement there is precariously little keeping both sides in check. What happens when they learn it's been so blatantly broken?"

The pinkette winces.

"Open season before we reign it in." Shitty times for all save small fries.

"More or less, we already need to deal with mafias after Jinx, we can't keep up with private business wars at the same time, people would die, and we wouldn't be able to control it. Again. Our position is already frail after the recent events. I believe martial law would be implemented, eventually." She falls silent for a moment, lost in thought. "The first time around it was necessary, I'd like to avoid such necessity ever happening again." She's not the only one that remembers the situation that brought the martial law around for the first time. Vi was was a teenager at the time, not even in any gang and as such, the lowest piece of street filth one could find. In a way, life was harder for the low-key thief that she was before the military took to streets, the gangs would kill her if she was caught stealing on their turf. Still, she remembers the soldiers not being any less brutal with a caught pickpocket than a hired killer.

If it would go that far... If Cait thinks it can go that far...

"Yeah. Yeah okay. You got me convinced." Caitlyn doesn't react to her words, she probably knew all along that this would be the outcome, probably having all the right words ready if not before she even came to the office, then shortly after. It grates on Vi's nerves sometimes but it always comes to one simple fact.

Caitlyn's right.

"Now the second reason, it ties into the first one. I will be taking a leave sometime next week, maybe even this one should the administration push for investigation harder than proper." What now? A leave at this time?

Caitlyn seems to be waiting for her to mull over this revelation, possibly for another outburst. It doesn't come, Vi's lost enough arguments for one day. Instead she asks.

"Why?"

"Because we should have caught Jinx long ago. An investigation will be carried out with or without my consent, it is better I wrap up any current business and let it happen than to be forced to do it at an inopportune time," the woman explains patiently.

"But why the leave?"

"Because the investigation will turn up with nothing, and I want to avoid accusations of influencing its outcome," she smirks while saying that and the Enforcer can't help but snort. Yeah good luck finding any dirt on Caitlyn, regardless of whether it exists or not. "It will be faster that way, the administration only has two weeks to perform its duties, if they're given nothing, that will be it. So they will find nothing. We have no time for these games and I need to take care of irregularities. We've had trouble once because the officials found a fine over-payed by... thirty pfennigs that we didn't return I believe." Yes, Vi can see the never-ending pain in the ass that is the administration doing this sort of stuff. "But I digress, that's the why of it. Either way I would have to leave the city in hands of someone less qualified during time when we'd be all but at war with Zaun. I believe I would be sent on 'much needed vacation'-" she says with biting sarcasm in her voice. "-sometime around when the trouble would begin, too early and too little for statesmen to see they need me."

"What, you're saying they wouldn't call you back?" They kept her throughout this whole mess with the mad terrorist because they knew anybody else would be even more helpless, and they'd send her away just as more trouble would start?

"No. They would, to clean up the mess after it's already been created. Believe me Vi I do not like skulking in the shadows either but, being open about the case is the last thing we should do."

"And what should we do?"

"The Force will focus on the resurfaced crime, the public won't mind us being more ruthless than usual in the wake of the massacre that gangs carried out last night." Vi just shakes her head at this, both amused and exasperated. Of course she'd use it. What did she expect? "I'll have our sleepers track down the Zaunites, they must have left something to go after. As for you... I might not have been entirely honest when we last spoke."

Duh.

"For you," she continues. "I have a more fitting assignment than showing children around the department. Although I do have to say that you have an admirable way with them from what I hear from the hospital." The brunette smiles when her subordinate's cheeks turn light pink at the mention. "They probably recognise their own."

Vi will swear it up and down but there may be some merit to her boss' words.

"Or maybe they just know I'm cool. You know, I think they prefer listening to my stories than your- what was it again?" she mock-fakes trying to remember, as if she could ever forget. Caitlyn doesn't put her face in her hands but her sour expression tells the pinkette she would very much like to. "Oh yeah! The thrilling life of a detective! I don't know what made you talk about cataloging evidence but I'm sure glad I wasn't there to listen." As opposed to hearing about it later, she laughed her ass off when she heard the kids either fell asleep or vanished on their way to bathrooms.

"Well it is interesting." The Sheriff grumbles, making Vi smirk, she rarely gets to see her boss embarrassed. "And we've steered off topic I think." Too rarely.

"Hey! You started it." The smaller woman pointedly ignores the remark.

"You will neautralise the Zaunites should our people find them still in Piltover." It's a menacing and ugly smile that crawls its way onto Vi's lips. "Just remember what I told you, we need more information." The taller woman nods. "And there is one more thing you'll be doing in the meanwhile."

"Sure, what's that?"

"You, will be responsible for safeguarding Jinx."

* * *

**Important!**

I retconned the League out of the story. The plot that I've set in motion has barely a thing to do with League in the first place and I realised it would create some plot-holes with it in picture, so I decided to get rid of it altogether.

I think I know now why Riot did what they did.

Also!

The time it took me to write this is simply unacceptable. I plan to release at least one chapter a month henceforward. Shouldn't be that hard actually, I had trouble writing this because of the presence of League really. So yeah, fun times ahead.


	15. 2 - 3

Jayce's eyes widen and he chokes on his sandwich when his friend relays him the news.

He drops the food on his plate and hits himself in the chest a couple of times, trying to ease the food down.

"I know right!?" Vi says heatedly, throws her hands up.

"You serious?" He rasps out when he's sure he won't throw up. "Shouldn't, should you even be anywhere close?- I mean you caught her, isn't there something against that in regs?"

There damn well should be, Vi's the woman everyone in the know hinged on to be the one who would eventually catch Jinx. An unsurprisingly, she's done that. And now the same person who has a near personal involvement is also supposed to be guarding the aforementioned criminal? Bullshit, she's done her part already. It would do her good were she reassigned to show kids around for a month or so. Too much violence, too much death. And too proud a woman to accept that fact.

"Only if you're personally involved, like, have someone close or family or whatever killed. But that's not the damned point! She knew I'd hate it! Said as much and I still gotta go sit my ass in there and be a personal fucking bodyguard to a grade A terrorist." She takes a swig of her cherry juice and grimaces at the taste, he wouldn't normally force the drink on her but he's not willing to be dealing with an angry, tipsy Vi. Things tend to get loud and it wouldn't be long till they'd have to leave the bar. They already have too much attention focused on them thanks to Vi being the hero of the day, and thanks to the fact that with Jinx arrested, people are making up for the days spent hiding in their houses.

"Did she tell you why at least?" Vi snorts at the question.

"Of course she did, it was all logical 'n shit... like always, you know I'm thinking she's forgetting we're not all cold hearted bitches like her."

"Don't." The Inventor warns her sternly. He knew she needed to vent when she called him but he's not going to stand her badmouthing Caitlyn because of her foul humour.

"Don't what? Call her a bitch?" she bites back, looking ready to start an argument.

"Cold hearted. Though yeah that too."

"Cause what? Maybe she doesn't care but I for one wanna get smashed and forget about everything for a day or two-" she pauses as she runs out of breath" At least that! I've seen some shit but this yesterday? I'm putting in some work trying not to think about it, I don't know how she copes but-"

"She doesn't" Jayce cuts in.

"I for o- what?" Her angry eyes show just a bit of confusion.

"She doesn't cope. I went with her later and when she finished the letters she was just so... defeated. She got it under control but not over with, just buried underneath everything else. You think she doesn't care?" Jayce knows, or at least believes the pinkette doesn't think that. It's not the point either way, she needs to calm down.

"Don't stuff words in my mouth."

"Don't be a bitch then, you knew those twenty?" She shakes her head. "She did, not well, but she did. They were her people and it's on her, in the end it's her fault they died because someone else under her screwed up and she didn't know about the mercenaries. And nobody can blame her for that, shit like that just happens, she knows that. But it's still gnawing at her, it was like she'd burnt out when she finished. You know what I'm talking about don't you?"

An ugly sneer flashes across Vi's face and she looks away, deflating a bit as her memories surface.

"Yeah, I know."

"Then cut the crap, she's not the most expressive person, I know, but she cares, and must have a good reason to give you that assignment."

"Doesn't change a thing." She doesn't sound so angry any longer, more upset. "Maybe she can force herself not to think about it but guess what, in the morning I'm starting to babysit Jinx. For as long as she's in hospital. And what am I gonna do there? Play spillikins?"

If that could take her mind off things...

"What did she say exactly?"

She sighs. "That I've already proven my- capability? Uh, and that out of all her choices I'll be the most suited for guard duty since the mercs are already basically wrecked... not her words, and since I get sitting duty and just make sure nobody who slipped past the others gets to Jinx, there will be two others with me but I'm the one who has to sit with her most of the day."

Huh. This does sound a bit off the course which Caitlyn always sets Vi up to do. And she always has reasons to do everything she does, always planning in advance and obsessively stacking odds in her favour until she can't. It figures that Vi can't really be out on patrols with both her arms injured, but setting her up to guard the Loose Cannon? That's...

If his train of thought hasn't just led him astray, that's actually brilliant.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only people that can approach an injured prisoner of Jinx's caliber are the assigned guards and doctors right?" It came up when he was last talking with Cait, had she already been planning this so soon after catching the terrorist? Or rather, had she planned for him to realise her intentions when he'd inevitably end up listening to Vi's complaints?

It wouldn't surprise him. Her mind is rarely (if ever) at rest. The only workaholic that can rival her (or rather straight-out beat her to it) that he knows of is Heimerdinger, and that's saying a lot. Mental exercise puts her at ease so he didn't think much of it when she brought up legal matters alongside the issue of nosy media during their breakfast. Besides, she does have to actually ensure Jinx's security, there are more than just Zaunites lurking in the dark, a lot of people (many of them in her very own Force) that would take an opportunity to exact justice of their own.

"I don't remember the regs but... I think so? Cait said I can only allow three people into the room, all medical. What about it?"

"How long is she going to stay there?" he prods.

"Rust- I don't- there's a point to this?" Jayce smirks, it's a bad habit but really, he just can't help himself when he gets an opportunity to be smug.

"And how long is the administration conducting its investigation?"

Vi opens her mouth to answer and freezes, making quite a good impression of a fish for a moment, before leaning back in her seat, thoughtful.

"Huh."

"Yeah, huh. You know I'm surprised she didn't tell you herself." A blush creeps up the pinkette's cheeks.

"Uh, I kinda didn't stay? Walked out on her the moment she gave all the operational details."

"Kinda? Seriously?" What a boss to be had, had he done that to his old one his career would be in quite a different place right now.

"Don't- just, don't okay? Cait already made me look like an idiot today-" As if that's the Sheriff's fault, the man doesn't say. "-and I don't need you channelling her here. Fff- Man I feel like an ass now. Again."

"You are an ass, no need to beat around the bush here." The scientist raises his hands in surrender when his friend shoots him a dirty glare. But it quickly loses its fire.

"See? That's what I mean, I'm so not over the other night, can't even take a stupid joke." She sighs. "And instead of curing a hangover or- I don't know, washing sheets in the morning. I get to babysit that psycho." She glares at a passing man who dares to spare her a glance. "Joy."

"Worse than officials stringing you along half a day?" In his own experience there is nothing worse than the administration snooping around. The last time it happened to him, the amount of tech he had to scramble could almost rival the wreck that Jinx made of it.

"Psht, ask me that after I get laid tomorrow. Most clubs are opening tonight again but-" She raises her still bandaged hands up and rolls her eyes. Of course. Well, he can't deny how Vi's method puts things in perspective. And unless all her tells suddenly changed sometime last month, she hasn't picked anyone up in... hm, at least since the Zaunite terrorist's arrival. He can understand the sentiment, he still catches himself brooding over his trashed laboratory. Wait.

"Hasn't the doctor forbidden you from any strenuous activity?" She throws him an exasperated look. "Alright, fine, but do say, how are your arms?"

A sly smile spreads across her lips, without however, reaching her eyes.

"Ask me when I'm done with my strenuous activities." Of course. So she feels good enough, he can assume. Just one issue with that.

"I'm afraid that I won't have much time to visit."

"Hm? Oh yeah we have to move your stuff before we... "Right." They both look at a clock over the bar, Ten thirteen PM, Jayce got called right after Vi came home after receiving her orders, took them a bit to meet up but they still made good time. "You know, I could give it a look tonight, see what kind of warehouse you'd need for that stuff."

"That's- not exactly what I mean but sure, thanks," he says pointedly, Vi raises her one eyebrow and grins.

"Whatever you say Futureman."

…Somehow, whenever she says it, she manages to make the word sound like a bad joke instead of a reason to be proud. It's a good nickname, simple, easy to remember, appropriately corny for a hero and all that. But the way the Enforcer says it, it always reminds him of how he, a grown man, a respected scientist and a known socialite to boot, runs around at night. Chasing criminals and rescuing damsels (though admittedly, not only) in distress.

"Would you please start up the car? I'll catch up in a bit," the man says.

"Sure." They both stand from their booth, the woman instinctively reaching for the gauntlets beside her seat- ones that aren't there for once. She left them at home and took her gun instead for once, Jayce knows she won't admit it even to herself, but the last night's events shook her up, enough so that she has taken to carrying a gun. Granted, it's a replacement for her gauntlets but he doubts she'll just put it away once she can use her "babies" again. "By the way, you got a new car on your radar?"

"Yes I do, two actually, but I was thinking about buying one and taking what's left of my old one and refitting it again. I'm feeling sentimental I suppose." His friend barks out a laugh. "What?"

"No nothing, just do something low key with it this time, I bet you'll have it checked again in a month, tops." Figures.

They split up without another word, Vi on her way out and Jayce to pay for their orders, as he always does. A year ago he would have paid in advance just so that he could hold the door open for the woman, he even offered to carry her gauntlets once.

Once.

As for Vi? She hasn't ever complained but clearly found his hard-wired manners amusing (not exactly in a flattering sense either), and in Jayce's unvoiced opinion, tad bit embarrassing, as at times, she simply doesn't know how to properly respond to courtesy. Small wonder, their upbringing is almost contrasting each other's after all

It was... strange, in the beginning, this friendship of theirs. While he might had been somewhat sheltered before earning his name, he's still relatively sure there aren't many women like Vi in Piltover. It's not even the ever apparent bridge between the high and low class, the defining difference between those is financial capability to express themselves. Vi? She's simply outside the norm. Perhaps it has to do with her city of origin, he never asked. Despite Zaun being so close he doesn't know much about its peoples. Frankly, were it not for Caitlyn they would likely never have talked, or even met for that matter. The bench in front of Piltover's sheriff office is a powerful ice breaker indeed. He'll never forget the first words they exchanged.

"Sooo... you in for ass-chewing too?"

"Bwuah?"

Mostly because his mother would burn with shame had she heard them. Partially thanks to the Enforcer's choice of words and his own stunning eloquence. To his defence, he was still reeling from seeing the piercing in her nose, and her hairdo, and the tattoo... her everything really. All done, as he later learned, in equal parts because she simply likes it, and to rile up the "stuck-up salon hags she has to deal with way too often", throws them off their game she says.

He can attest to that.

The inventor was surprised to find a ruffian like her to make for such a good company, just as Vi was surprised by not having an urge to gag while talking with a "rich boy", as she used to call university graduates. He was even more surprised to learn of her mechanics skills, a self taught street thief knowing how to work with hextech? Stripping a car of its engine is one thing, modifying a mining suit on the fly is another.

She'd be an amazing engineer.

If he could manage to convince her to finally sign up at the polytechnic. Something which he's fairly sure she won't do. She prefers punching faces in, which, Jayce supposes, is a respectable enough occupation. Still. It's not like she'd have to give up her work, he's the living proof.

The scientist finds Vi in her car when he's fnished paying, browsing radio stations in search of something different than adverts. They take off the moment Jayce closes the door behind him without waiting for him to buckle up, the pinkette still distracted by the radio. She eventually settles for jazz and turns some of her attention to him.

"Sooo. What you gonna be busy with?" She asks nonchalantly, tough without really trying to cover her interest.

"I'm planning to find the Zaunites that got away from you."

Her brows furrow, eyes thankfully still on the road. It's a bad habit of hers that she glances at her company while driving.

"Cupcake put you up to this?"

"No actually, this one is all me. I used to be a lone wolf remember?"

"Psht, yeah- lone wolf... What was it, two or three weeks before Cait caught up?" Of course she'd mention it. She takes it as a point of pride that she managed to evade Piltover's Sheriff longer than he had. Makes sense, in a way, both that she managed that, and the pride she takes in it. She was a criminal after all.

"Well I still was one. You can't fault me for her being a good detective." It's not like the little difference of time matters much, the end result being them both working for Caitlyn, albeit in different ways.

"Guess I can't. Anyway, you said you'll be hunting those mercs down?"

"Yes,they remain a danger as long as they stay in Piltover. Can't hurt to have another pair of eyes on the lookout can it?" The Enforcer hums in agreement, her boss might have a different opinion on the subject since she hasn't asked him for help. But the Sheriff has not got the sole right to help the city and its people.

It's with resigned acceptance that Vi speaks again.

"So you're gonna be smashing faces in while I'm stuck babysitting a death-row." She clicks her tongue. "Golly, keep me in the loop at least? I've got fourteen hours shifts now, guess who," she drawls dejectedly.

Ah, working two thirds of the day. Good times, he remembers his internship all to well. Officially, he wasn't really doing much of anything, his talent waisted on keeping the PSID lab operational. Leaving him only with his own thoughts and machines late into nights, without anyone to interrupt them, he wasn't technically supposed to use them but what PSID doesn't know won't hurt it.

Vi on the other hand will be stuck in a room with Jinx most of her shift. No hextech to entertain herself with, or even gear to tinker with her gauntlets. The vigilante used to fall asleep on stakeouts all the time when he was still doing them. He can't even begin to imagine how bored his friend will be. Yes, the least he can do is keep her posted.

"Wouldn't dream otherwise."

* * *

Aaand there we go, another one, a bit on the short side but interludes aren't generally on the long side are they?

Next up, Jinx!


	16. 2 - 4

...

Urgh...

This is... she hasn't felt like this for... for a long time. She thinks, she's not exactly capable of forming any decidedly coherent thoughts at the moment. Everything's... heavy, her eyelids, her hands, her legs, her fingers and maybe even ears and nails.

She stirs minutely. Not finding strength nor will to do anything more. And it's warm, too warm, she normally hates it but at the moment she feels no more than mild annoyance towards it, doesn't matter, she's tired. Too tired.

Her eyes flutter halfway open yet remain unseeing.

She's too tired.

The girl goes back to scouring the mountains of broken bots with her friends.

(-)

The Sun is out. But it doesn't hurt her eyes when she looks at it. Maybe because she can't open them, and yet she can see it clearly, the bluest sky, the most yellow Sun and all of it pretty as a picture.

She reaches out and throws the picture away. The new one is cast in setting red, red horizon, red Sun, red world.

It's so pretty when it burns.

(-)

Bucketface leans over her and without warning, jabs a gloved finger behind her ear.

"Hey!" She swats the offending arm away, not minding her own being tied down to a metal table.

"Stop squirming. The sooner I'm done the sooner you can go."

The girl flashes him a crooked smile and stands up in spite of his protests. Is there a mirror somewhere around? She suddenly sees her own image, right, who needs mirrors? She looks at herself and wonders where has her hair gone when she's thrown back to the table.

"But I don't wanna go."

He leans over her and jabs behind her ear again.

(-)

The Sun is blue again. The night however remains much the same as always, dark and uncaring for light. Only some of it illuminated by street lamps down below the rooftop she's been lying on for the last few minutes.

A purple kitten sits itself down on her stomach, and she absentmindedly reaches out to scratch its back.

"I can't get up." She's been trying a lot. It's annoying, like trying to fall asleep, only in reverse.

The furball turns to face her.

"Do you want to?" Not really, and that's what's wrong. She should want to. Always has. Sleep is a waste unlike any other, as she's come to realize.

Her mind is heavy, but her body rattles under its reign.

(-)

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"You know what day is it?"

"...Varia?"

"So, no. And I haven't seen her since."

"You?"

"Been better, I'm glad you're here."

(-)

She watches as the man's skin dissolves in the acidic cloud. Nice, not exactly her thing but still awesome.

"Fire's still better though."

"No kiddin', my lungs went 'n pissed 'emselves. Nasty I tell ya." The dismembered sack of meat adds cheerfully.

"Shut up, you don't got lungs to speak."

The corpse huffs and is there no longer. Good, you're not supposed to be chatty after getting hit with a chem strike. Now, where to? Nothing left but poison here.

Gruff's place, yeah. Smoke and powder and grease. Stupid, always so dirty, as are her hands, where are her hands?

(-)

She slams the oven shut and leans forward to marvel at how the buildings burn inside it. It's too hot, inside and out. The girl pouts and looks outside the oven she herself is in. Her own giantic eye watching her smaller self in gleeful curiosity as her world heats up red.

She tries to move but finds her body too heavy, too tired to do so. She walks up to the glass, uncaring for the scalding heat bearing down on her and tries pushing it open. Ugh, she wants out, out!

Her whole body buckles and she's strapped to a bed, too hot, it's too hot. Sweaty and uncomfortable and damp and she wants out!

She can't get out.

(-)

"Nice place you got here." Says Vi as she flies out of her ear in a flutter of neon-pink feathers. "Spacious and all, could use more stuff."

"What, wanna settle down?" She asks with a devious smirk as she closes the door in her ear shut. No dumb birds picking her brain out, nooo sir!

She looks on in amusement as the little pink bird tries to crash through the obstacle a couple of times before finally giving up and setting in her hair. Hah! Dumbass, it's her head, no birds allowed! Which reminds her.

She springs Pow-Pow poen and unleashes a hailstorm of bullets at the fat, ugly pigeons littering the theater stage.

(-)

"I got a plush fish."

"Crayons and paper. Was drawing on walls, they say I can."

"I got a plush fish."

"You seen Jojo lately? He wasn't having breakfast with us for some time now.

"Five."

"You sure?"

"Five."

(-)

"I didn't know you were such an artist." Whistles her rocket launcher from the side, where he's sitting under the unpainted part of the wall. **Yet** unpainted part. She grabs him and looks at her graffiti from behind her own back.

A giant, red, dead frog. And if anybody says otherwise they've obviously never seen a frog before!

"Hey, lets blow it up, art is fleeting yeah?"

"But you just drew her." He says indignantly.

"Well dur, that's the point!" She levels her friend at the Enforcer's graffiti and pulls the trigger, moments later the rocket hits the bricks, splashing them red with fire.

(-)

Fireworks paint the sky in fires both bright and spectacular, one explosion has left rhino on the violet night sky, while another still trails rusty circles around it, but most of them simply spout smoke and sparkling dust in their wake.

It's pretty, could use a bit more fire...

Her friends don't leave her hanging, one quickly making the sky explode in shades of orange, another searing red hot tears in the sky, while the third compliments their work with a stream of blinding (she's sure) blues.

She crosses her unmoving arms behind her head and leans back onto the floor made of blank, colorless pillows.

(-)

Stupid, useless, broken piece of caustic trash!

She pulls the gun back, uncaring for the dozens of people she's been fighting a second ago. The gun isn't working! Again! There's something to be said about the quality of firearms she sometimes finds herself equipped with, as they tend to haphazardly stop working, and not like they break apart, no! Just stop working, she pulls the trigger and it doesn't even click.

And she knows she's pulling it! She doesn't feel it, but she's doing it! Her sight works just fine, even if her eyes are closed.

She lifts her eyes to the people in front of her, patiently waiting for her to resume their game with their own guns at the ready, all aimed at her. Somehow, theirs never simply stop working, it's infuriating!

"Time out," she growls at them, and is no longer in a flame flooded hallway, instead, she's standing atop a pile of rubble as tall as a call.

The gun forgotten, she starts looking for her friends among the still smoldering ashes.

(-)

Nine twenty three.

She looks away, closing her eyes and forcing them open, then back to the clock.

Seven twenty three.

Again.

Hazy, heavy, her eyes close again.

Two thirty one.

She looks up at the all too white clouds, hovering still on the red sky. She puffs her cheeks and blows it all away, leaving silence and warmth behind. Along with the clock in her hand.

Five eleven.

It can't be five eleven!

She rattles at her restraints and repeats the process anew. She wants out. She knows she wants out, that she doesn't want to matters little, the choice between do and do not is no choice at all.

A sliver of pain brings her attention to her arm, huh. She hasn't seen it in... well, long.

She opens her eyes and there is no clock.

(-)

"It's nothing, doesn't hurt one bit. Sh-fff, don't poke it! Please."

"Miss you."

"Miss you too, but look, I'm here, I promised I'd visit yeah?"

"Miss you."

"I- I'm sorry I can't come more often, I only get one day off a week and... I'm lucky anyway. It's not bad, really.

"Really?"

"Could be worse, I got you don't I?"

* * *

She stirs, trying to relieve the tension out of her back. Everything's wrong, it's too warm, she can't move, the world feels heavy. Like it's crushing her underneath its weight. And her throat, there's something wrong with her throat that she can't put into words.

It takes her a moment to realize she can't see. What's changed, what is... right. She has to open her eyes, it's weird, having to bother so much just to see again.

A white ceiling greets her eyes when she, for a change, she manages to keep them open for a few moments. What is, where is she? She can't tell, well that's annoying. She usually knows where she is, most of the time she's not even thinking about it and all of a sudden, she's almost blind to the world. Well, there's always her friends to fall back on.

"Hrngh," she manages to wheeze out. But there's no response, and that's just not right. They're always... did she die? She's somewhat familiar with the concept of afterlife but the last thing she remembers is tagging the public library and that's not exactly a lethal activity, did she slip and fell? If so, this isn't anything like she had been told death would be like, stuff feels just wrong instead of blissful and whatnot, and what about the chase? There's supposed to be a chase! This whole thing sorta sucks if she's really dead and will have to spend the rest of eternity like this. No really, she might just go crazy!

Something that might be a giggle, were her throat in working order, escapes her chapped lips.

Nah, this feels more like those days when she just passes out, or rather the following evening (it's usually evenings) when she wakes up. Oh man, she really must have gotten messed up to feel all wrong like this.

No time to waste then! Where's Fishbones? Did she leave him in the workroom?

Jinx forces her eyes open again, although with some difficulty, and pushes herself up. Or tries to at least, Is that- is she tied to a bed? She doesn't have a bed. She can feel leather around her wrists, ankles and stomach, and it's reminding her of something she'd much rather... Oh no.

Her eyes snap open, her mind clear in an instant as a surge of panic washes over her.

No, nonononono.

The girl's body tenses up and a moment after, she lurches upwards, only a couple of centimeters as her bindings easily hold her in place. The bluenette's breath skyrockets in a matter of seconds, her heart loosing all semblance of rhyme as it wildly hammers in her chest. Her head angling in every direction it can, and wide, fearful, red eyes keep snapping from the machinery beside her to the stark white walls.

With not a small amount of effort, Jinx manages to swallow whatever is left in her mouth and hoarsely croak out.

"Fishbones?" She sounds... weird, and not because of her rusty throat, cause well- yeah she does sound different but it seems something's wrong with her hearing too. "Pow-Pow? Z-Zap?" It hurts to speak but she tries once again. "Guys?" Still no answer.

The criminal hears a thud of- something against wood, and then footsteps. She tries arching herself towards the source of it but it's firmly outside her sight. No, she can't stay like that, she needs to get out, out!

She resumes her attempts at getting out of her restraints, feeble though they are. She can't give up, she won't go back!

"Gears- will you shut up?" She seizes up. Her hearing might not exactly be stellar but she would still recognize that voice anywhere.

"Vi?"

"Uhuh," a face framed by a mop of pink hair enters her field of view. "Damn you look glazed."

Jinx stares at the woman's face for a moment, before she lets a shaky breath out and sags back down onto her bed. Suddenly exhausted and sore all over. She chokes on air for a moment as her breathing stabilizes.

"That just your thing or-" the Enforcer cuts off and abruptly shoves herself away from the bed. Jinx cranes her neck- trying to follow Vi with her eyes but to no anvil. A pang of something she doesn't like jabs itself into her stomach at the thought of being left alone in this room. She tries to speak up and winces at the grating pain the intake of air leaves her with. She thinks she can hear her Enforcer murmur something about a "fucking bodyguard" but she can't be sure, her hearing is not exactly all there.

The criminal bites her cracked lips as she listens to Vi (or at least she thinks so) doing... something, in the room. She almost panics when she hears something like a door opening, but it's a second pair of shoes that makes itself known, not one leaving.

"Hello Enforcer, how long has she been awake?" Now this voice she doesn't recognize, a man's, sounds old. Well, 'old'.

"Like two minutes I guess, been restless a bit longer. You gonna put her under again?" Under? Under what?

"That depends." Depends on what! Jinx wishes they'd stop talking nonsense.

A man dressed in whites and greens and an ugly coat, comes into her view and for just a second, Jinx's mind comes to a grinding halt, before her entire body coils up, seemingly ready to spring. He walks up to her with something he probably thinks is a soothing smile. She wants to grab a knife and cut it off his stupid, wrinkled face. "Calm down Jinx we're not going to hurt you."

A snort can be hard from the maniac's right, and this time, the prisoner can see the pinkette when she turns her head to the side. Fugly shoots Vi a disapproving look, idiot, she ought to gouge his eyes out. That would teach him!

"What?" Jinx can't say if Vi sounds amused or irritated, it's sort of hard for her to tell the nuances like that with people she doesn't spend most of her day with. Like Fishbones... her friends.

"Where are they!?" She fails to shout, ending up hacking her lungs up.

The Coat looks at her again, a frown marring his face, he then reaches out for something beside her bed's head, at an angle at which she can only see the pillow when her eyes try to follow his hand. A hand that is way, way too close to her head than is to the girl's liking.

She lunges out and is about to bite into the man's wrist, when she's stopped from doing so by her restraints. The old guy lets out a surprised gasp and trips away a would-be moment too late to stop Jinx from sinking her teeth in his wrist. Not what's she's been going for but she'll take what she gets at this point. For all their supposed brains, all those doctors don't seem so smart to her. Bunch of idiots if anything, she'll teach them not to mess with her! And what a lesson it would be were it not for these stupid restraints. Ugh! There are many things she can confidently say she hates but shackles must be in the top six, or maybe seven. Depends on the day.

"Ah... could you please?" The man shakily calls out, still some distance away from her bed, speaking to Pinktard apparently- who looks only a bit alarmed, though still ready to spring into action. The woman rolls her eyes at the question, but moves to where Gramps just jumped away from, very deliberately avoiding exposing her arm to Jinx the same way he just has. Good, she's not as dumb as she looks. What is it that they're trying to do anyway? Now she's curious.

Her question is answered right away as Vi pulls her hand back, showing a plastic bottle with a straw sticking out the top. Oh, she sees how it is, she busts her ass pulling the moron outta fire (of her own making but come on, details) and this retard can't even be bothered to give her a drink when she needs it? Ass. Not that she really expects anything less of that loser.

She shoots the taller woman a dirty look as she bites down on the straw, she's not sure what is she drinking, her mouth too parched to acknowledge anything beside the relief the drink brings her. The bluenette tries not to drink too quickly but gives the battle up when she feels the crust inside her throat wash away. She ends up almost inhaling, what by the end she figures out, is water, and is sent into a coughing fit when Vi changes her grip on the bottle as to poke at Jinx's palate with the straw, making her spit some water out, and the rest go down the wrong hole.

"You suck." She accuses the pinkhead through her coughs, and is flashed an innocent smile in response.

"Awww, did the little terrorist wet herself?" Is she mocking her? Jinx thinks she's mocking her. Oh she's gonna get it once-

"Enough," the Coat butts in. "officer please, don't harass my patient."

"Why not? She's already dead, just not caught up with the fact." What? So did she die or not because this is really just getting confusing right now.

"She's still my patient and that's no reason to-" Oh for...

"Man, she tried to bite you." Yeah! Shut his ugly mug up!

"Yes, it happens sometimes, hence the restraints. Nonetheless, please refrain from disturbing my patient." Jinx is reasonably sure he doesn't get the memo. He's not supposed to be this civil after almost getting bit, or this calm, or willing to even be around for that matter. Oh well, she'll just have to try harder next time, that's for later though- there's something else on her mind right now.

"Hey Fats-" Her voice, while still scratchy, returned to being somewhat recognizable as hers after she had a drink, and her throat doesn't hurt nearly as much anymore." You said I'm dead?" Cause it would really suck if she did after all die, and this whole afterlife deal would be about being tied down to a bed.

"No miss, you're not-"

"Wasn't asking you!" She snarls at the man. Really, REALLY rude of him to cut in like that.

"Miss, please, I'm not try-"

"I said shut up!" She shouts, the burn she feels immediately afterwards almost makes her regret it, almost. She hates dealing with idiots like him, she's not talking to him- why does he think she cares for what he has to say? And all of them, each and every one of those cretins is the same! Gah!

The guy looks like he's going to say something again, but right as he's about to speak, he closes his mouth and turns away.

"Officer, could you?" he asks, sounding resigned.

"What, I'm your personal assistant now?" Jinx still can't say if it's amusement or annoyance that she hears in Vi's voice.

"No officer, but I would very much appreciate your help."

"Ugh, whatever. No Twerp you're not dead, I'd know, you did almost choke on your vomit though. Guys had to give you CPR."

"CP-what?" She doesn't remember any C-something, nor vomiting, honestly she can't remember much at all since her last graffiti run, and that was... three (or four?) days after finding Vi in hospital. And even that is kinda foggy.

"CPR?" She repeats as she comes to her side again, a questioning expression adoring her face. Jinx tries to shrug (with questionable success) and make a face of her own. "Nevermind, But yeah you're not dead. Yet, anyway."

"Wanna make some sense?" Cause seriously, it's like she's trying not to make any of it right now.

"Psh, sure, you're gonna die in a week or two."

Die? What, now?

"Hah, pfthahaha!" She can't help it, somehow she finds the idea of dying in this place funny right now. As if! Coats don't kill, they twist and break and weld back together, but kill? What's the point?

"What you laughing at Twerp?" Yeah, now she's irritated, the bluenette can finally tell.

"D-die! What, you gonna kill me?" She manages to squeak through her giggles. Honestly, the idea of Vi killing her sounds even more ridiculous, they've played so many times, and yeah, sure, neither really holds back but it's not like they're really trying to kill each other. Well, maybe- maybe they are, sort of, but it's not what their little game is about. If either of them dies, the game is over. Not something Jinx wants, where would she find herself another Fathands? Hat Lady just doesn't get it, she's not chasing her, only making traps which, while Jinx is more than willing to spring, are nowhere near as fun as having Moron chase her. Hammerhead is kinda fun to screw with, but still not as fun as her Enforcer is, gangs and police both simply bore her, military is fun, but they're a bit... much. Sure, she doesn't mind dying while playing, better that than to go to the hospital again that's for sure. Still, she likes having odds better than zero.

But she's not the one making the rules and if Fatass wants to step her game up? She can step her game up, not the first death-run she's been through, not gonna be the last. So what does she need? Well Pinktard is already around so there is that. Where she is doesn't really matter, she's getting out, not in. How she got here... she doesn't really care about that either. She only has to get out of these binds, figure out where her friends are and then get them back, no biggie. Her restrains are going to be a bit of an issue but the rest should be easy enough.

"Where are my guns?"

"Not here." Vi answers with a smirk. Oh she wouldn't sound anywhere near so smug were Jinx not restrained. It must show on her face because it's then that the man with them decides to interrupt.

"I think that's enough."

Rust...

"Anybody asked you?" She angrily snaps. He's going to die, Jinx decides. No way she's letting him interrupt them again and again and just let him off the hook. "Actually, wait. Where are my guns?" She directs the question at the geezer. One last chance for him.

"I'm afraid I don't know miss." Figures. What did she expect? The likes of him to be helpful? Good one Jinx, good one, her friends would laugh, maybe. "I'm also afraid that I have to examine your health, now that you woke up. Preferably while you're awake." He finishes pointedly. Of course, they're all like that, polite even as they pull one's brain out. "Do I have your permission to do so?" She glances at the officer, who has seemingly lost her interest and is now looking around the room.

If she's here, and saying she's supposed to die...

"Go choke in a puddle." The old fart is grossly mistaken if he thinks she's going to make things easier for him. He even has enough gall to sigh, as if he expected her to cooperate. He's really not all that smart is he?

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. I prefer to work with my patients without having to resort to narcosis." Jinx's whole face scrunches up in resentment, doing a rather good job of masking her unease as well.

He moves out of her sight, somewhere behind the machinery beside her bed. Jinx's skin crawls when the sound of metal and glass becomes heard in the room, her eyes switch to Vi again, who looks at (Jinx thinks) the man with the kind of expression one usually reserves for smelling something rotten.

"You say I'm gonna die?" The girl inquires, sounding somewhat muted.

"Hm?" The pinkette turns attention to her, taking a moment to catch up with the question. "Yeah, my bet's on electric chair." She snorts. "Unless you kick the bucket before that anyway." Or unless she escapes. Jinx squirms as much as her position allows, she needs to think and staying still makes it so much harder for her, even more than it usually is.

"Good." She decides eventually, drawing a puzzled look from Fathands.

If she's supposed to be executed, that means she's not going to be kept here (wherever here is) indefinitely. Which is a big plus in her eyes, she's only been here about 10 minutes and she's already tired of the place. She's going to raze it to the ground when she breaks free. Way to make her care about her whereabouts.

"What's this place anyway?" Why she's here doesn't matter, but if she wants to bomb it one day...

"Calaford Hospital Centre," it's the old fart that answers as he comes back to her side, and for once she doesn't feel the urge to feed him PE4, plugged in and all, even though his voice still grates on her nerves. She turns her head towards him and even though she's been expecting the syringe in his hand, still feels her stomach churn. "You've been moved here when your infections became life-threatening. Something, which we could have avoided altogether were you admitted to a real hospital in the first place." He finishes pointedly.

"Hey, I'm not the one who made the call." Vi shots back, ooo- somebody's defensive!

"So I hear, I hope the good Sheriff's vacation will do her good. I admire her, I do, but she should leave matters of health to professionals," the grand-whatever says as he pushes the air out of the syringe, letting out a drop of whatever liquid it holds as well. What little color there is in Jinx's face flees at the sight, and the maniac suddenly feels very, very cold, her body starts trembling all on its own. She gives her shackles a last few, hopeless tugs, before directing a spiteful glare at her handler.

She will kill him, she will cut his stomach open and stuff it full of explosives. Or force acid down his throat, yeah, that would work too. Or even tie him to clock tower cogs and watch as they rip him apart, he doesn't even know how privileged he is, she's only gone to such lengths to kill a few times in the past, and she knows for a fact how high standing individuals those lucky few were. Maybe she'll let him know of the company he'll join before he dies, maybe not. Depending on the weather she supposes.

He draws the cover off her, revealing the cannula stuck in Jinx's arm. Great, one of those again, she was so done with them years before she had one stuck in her the last time. Can't even mess the injection up with that thing on. She looks away, not caring to watch something she's seen too many times already. Wait.

...where did Fatass go?

"Hey Loser... you still here?" she asks, feeling somewhat faint. Probably because of the injection, must be, her arm is numb already.

"Unfortunately." Jinx would like to say she knows where the sound came from but her hearing suddenly got a lot worse than it has been since she woke up. It's like the voice is coming from behind a door, the girl hopes the Enforcer's not behind the door.

"You're gonna stay?" She struggles to say, she means to say. What comes out of her mouth however, does not sound like the question she tries to voice.

Black spots appear before her eyes, rapidly consuming her entire vision. Her heart would beat faster- if it could, her breathing would be sharp and uneven- if it could be, her eyes would wildly dart around- if they could.

It doesn't take much time for Jinx to forget that they all should.

* * *

Damn this chap was annoying. But I rather like how it came out in the end.


	17. 2 - 5

"Hey Vi." The bluenette tries again in spite of being ignored for her last seven tries. "Viii-" She tries whining, whining always gets people's attention if nothing else. Not that she has any way to even know if she's not alone at the moment. The Enforcer's chair and table remain firmly outside her field of vision.

She waits a few seconds and starts tapping her foot against the bed frame, still nothing, not even an exaggerated sound of turning a book page. Jinx hasn't heard the woman leave so she must still be here. Unless she has somehow sneaked away without her hearing it... Nah, no way she can move so silently with all her excessive mass. Can she? The girl worries at her swollen lips, made so by her constant chewing on them. It's mind numbing, this stillness she's been forced into. It takes focus to think and all she can focus on is how she needs to move. The most she's been able to was when they took her for a bath. She very nearly managed to drown one of the orderlies. So that was fun, the most (and only) she has had since waking up here.

Which sucks some major balls but at least she has the Loser with her most of the time. So that's a plus. She'd likely go from crazy to absolute bonkers if she had to stay in bed without her around. Her friends would be better, sure, if useless. Her bonds are checked every now and then, probably periodically. Not that Jinx has any way to know for sure at the moment. Time has always been a curious concept for the girl and being forced to stay down along with being drugged half the time has messed up what remaining perception of time she still retained. The Coats don't really talk to her and her orderlies seem reluctant to approach her at all nowadays.

They're a joke, honestly, and not even a funny one. She only bites because they let her. Her old handlers would have pulled her teeth out one by one for even trying. Or maybe nails. Probably nails, she hears they grow back so pulling them out makes sense, they could do it however many times they wished.

She wiggles her hands from under the covers and looks at her slightly trembling fingers, someone had a go and removed her nail-polish somewhere along the line. And while she doesn't really care, it seems strange that they'd bother. Nobody made a big deal out of it in Zaun, they even used to bring her some when she asked. Figures that Pilties, with that eye-sore they call white paint, would bleach her nails too. Hm.

"Hey hag-tits!" she tries anew, and this time gets a reaction in the form of a low growl out of her officer, there! She's still here, good. "Dumb-ass, gutter-brain, acid-sweat, stinky-blob-" she pauses for a moment, racking her brain for more. "-dye-hair-"

A thump can be heard at the same moment Vi speaks up.

"Can you shut up for a damned minute?" Jinx can't see her face but she sounds ticked off. Well good, she deserves to be after trying silent treatment on her.

"Depends. You gonna let me out of here?"

"You know I'm starting to wish I could."

The girl snorts. "Course you can, will you?"

"That a trick question?"

Yeah actually. The bluenette already knows the answer full well. Fathands might pretend, she might even think she's big, bad and all that. But really, she's sitting here- for who knows how long (certainly not Jinx, and Vi just counts some hours) a day because Hat Lady told her to. The criminal might be tied to a bed but she's the one who's free in this room. Were their positions reversed, she'd either kill or free Vi at the first opportunity, and why in cogs not? So that she could lead an ordered and boring life where she has to get up with the Sun so that she could have the privilege of having to follow someone around lest she'd lose her job?

Yeah. What a life.

Granted. Moron's job involves chasing after people like her so it can't be all that bad. But then she also has to sit here. How she manages without being bound to her chair is beyond Jinx.

"Well dur, but you know, a girl can try right?"

"...I thought, and I don't know why, that having you awake would be less tiring than spending days on end alone." Jinx giggles at the admission, because tiring? Yeah probably. But-

"Less boring though don'tcha think?"

"Whatever," a smile blossoms on the mad girl's face. "you wanted something?"

"Uh..." she did actually, a minute ago. "I forgot." A condescending silence is her only answer. "Hey! You should've answered right away, your fault." One's supposed to answer questions when asked. Not argue 'bout it. And now she has to strain her brain for it, ugh. "Wait no! Yeah I got it! Why did you guys remove my nail-polish?"

"We what now?" Oh for- she just asked hasn't she?

"Can you just answer the stupid question?" Gears... it's like she's deliberately- is she doing this on purpose or is she really just that dumb?

The girl can hear her company murmur something under her nose, not loud enough for her to understand though. Probably something rude, should Jinx take her past experience into account.

"Something sanitary- I don't know," the pinkette finally responds. "You looked pretty much like walking sludge when I got you. Smelt the part too." What a night that must have been. Jinx sighs wistfully, such a pity she can't remember a thing. She gets filthy almost every time she goes out but sludge? Must have been hysterical.

But that's no reason to get her mood down to the dumps. She can't remember a lot of stuff she's supposedly done. It's not the first, and if she's got anything to say about it, not the last time. And it's not like asking her officer about it will do any good, she's either a bad storyteller or is just messing with her by denying the details. Which is rather caustic unfair considering Jinx is the cause for all of that anyway. Being told only that she's made a mess of half the city is just plain, cruel teasing! Could the Enforcer not just stay silent instead of whetting her appetite like that? No! Because she's a stupid waste of breath and oh she's gonna have so much FUN with her for that when she gets out of here.

Her fun, not Vi's. Punishments are supposed to be enjoyable for one party only.

"Hey, you know when you gonna transfer me?" The girl suddenly speaks up.

"No-" the chair she must be sitting on lets out a creak as she shifts on it. "-what does it matter, I'll bet my ass we're gonna get a full convoy, just for you." Awww, isn't that just sweet of them? All that effort to keep her from running. There'll probably be chains and guns involved. Which, quite honestly, Jinx thinks is stupid. Putting someone with weapons together with criminals. Yeah, sure, peacekeepers. Chains can only do so much, it's a matter of getting to a workshop. But getting there without a gun? A kitten could tackle her and it'd probably win.

It's just kinda dumb, Fathands knows the drill, she has her gauntlets and good luck to Jinx (or anyone else for that matter) if she wants to put these on with her hands bound. Come to think of it, even with her hands free she'd still have problems. Of as much as lifting her arms sort.

Vi is dumb, and at times it makes Jinx wonder what should she call everyone else.

Her foot stops tapping the bed frame and she starts drumming her fingers against it instead.

A shit eating grin blossoms on her face as a thought occurs to her.

"Hey Violet-"

* * *

It's not easy to not get noticed as a celebrity. His handsome features attract a fair bit of attention all on their own and when one adds the admired vigilante and fame part to the mix? He used to wear shades when trying to go incognito, it worked, for a time, up till he got a photo of him snapped while wearing his corrective glasses instead of contact lenses. Embarrassed as he was, he seems to have started a new trend back then, supposedly glasses accent one's features these days. Well, call him old fashioned but Jayce still prefers his lenses, bad memories perhaps.

Lab glasses would likely only attract even more attention, and so he's been forced to use his ultimate disguise. His old tracksuit with a side of unkept hair. A horrid abomination of blue and pink colours that he would love to get rid of but never shall. He might hate it but to throw out a gift from his mother? No. Never.

It also has one practical use, the first and only glance that people spare his way is to reaffirm their opinions on the topic of his garb's tastelessness. And just in case they accidentally skim their eyes across his face, he simply doesn't take care of his hair in the morning and voilà. One could say he's dressed to kill, if not in the positive sense. Why, his father only gave him a silent nod when he first saw his son in it. A nod conveying all the understanding and sympathy that only a father and son can share.

He often contemplates praying to whatever deities out there that he won't be recognised while wearing this tracksuit, and today especially so. Getting caught in that thing would be bad, yes, but getting caught in anything really while sneaking around the most dangerous Piltovian criminal's cell? Kind of important that he remains unnoticed, especially since Caitlyn is out of the city, oh she'd be furious but she'd help him. Her absence makes his extracurricular activities somewhat challenging.

But honestly? It's good that she's out there. It truly is a much needed holiday, even if forced upon her. The Deputy Sheriff Pomeroy is doing a decent enough job of cleaning the city up after the disaster called Jinx. And were things as they usually are, that would be just fine.

Unfortunately, this might not be enough for what's coming.

As the situation currently stands, what with the administration sniffing about, giving information to Pomeroy would mean an investigation into the source of the it and not the issue itself. Of that Jayce has no doubt, bureaucrats have a special way of seeing the world, and the administrators are particularly vicious in their sticking to rules. To be fair, there has never been a case of corruption amidst their ilk but in the scientist's honest opinion, doing things off the books is just so much more efficient. And it's time that no one can waste now if they want to avoid another 'University Massacre', as it has come to being called.

And that means that he needs to take matters into his own hands.

Which at the moment spells waiting for the last guard between him and Jinx's room to notice the commotion that is happening around the nearest restroom. Nothing serious, a bit of smoke caused by a certain vigilante having set the toilet paper holder on fire. Ah, brings back memories, they couldn't get the smell out from the dormitories for weeks.

But there it is, the first shouts of alarm piercing through the constant flow of noise. The officer's gaze snaps from his newspaper towards the source of noise, it takes him no more than a second to get up, hand on his gun belt, and then walk to investigate.

Well, that's Jayce's cue to move, it won't take much time for the policeman to realise that his presence is not required nor even helpful. Jayce's left a bucket to fill up with water there after all. He's not a pyromaniac! He'd fill it himself too if it were not for the possibility that someone could put out the fire too quick.

Not wasting time, he quickly walks by the empty post and rooms, two hundred and seven, eight, nine, maintenance room, ten, unmarked, there! Eleven.

Just as he's about to enter the room, something like... struggling? Can be heard on the other side of the door. And shouts? Oh shit!

He throws the door open and for a moment freezes at the image presented to his eyes. Namely, Vi forcefully administrating a crumpled up newspaper into Jinx's mouth, she appears to be finding the criminal's feeble effort to stop her rather amusing, if her malicious smirk is any tell. The bluenette is still strapped to the bed, thank gears, when he heard the noise he thought she somehow got free.

The man snaps out of his daze and quickly closes the door behind him, they don't want anyone coming in after all.

"Uh... I'm- not interrupting I hope?" He cautiously ventures. Earning a surprised look from Vi, who after a moment of staring at his choice of attire, snorts and goes back to the task at hand.

As for jinx, an unintelligible noise comes from the clearly unhappy prisoner as an answer.

"What do you think?" Vi speaks up, her voice a curious mix of anger and glee. "Little shitlord here-" she takes her fingers out of Jinx's mouth and wipes them off on the covers. "-just doesn't know when to shut up. Figured I could teach her."

"Are you supposed to be doing this?" Probably not, though Jayce doubts even the doctors would actually care beyond their professionalism.

"And are you supposed to be here?" her gaze shifts back to him and takes in the details of his appearance. "What in cogs are you wearing anyway?"

"A disguise." He states firmly, eager to skip to other topics, and looks around the room, a standard one really, the only difference being how empty it is. Barring the machinery by Jinx's sides, there is but a chair and a table, one littered with newspapers, books and- are those spillikins? Has she seriously... a grin breaks out on his face.

"Hey! You don't even know-" the woman points her finger at him when she notices where his attention's been drawn to, as if scolding a child. "-how boring it gets here. Fourteen hours, a day, stakeouts can go shove it up their asses, they know nothing."

"Okay, okay, I get it. You stay awake?" He sure as a clock couldn't.

She looks at Jinx- who's still valiantly trying to spit out the newspaper- making sounds not that dissimilar from vomiting- and shrugs. The scientist can't blame the girl for the noise she makes, really, not because she's gagged, although yes that's annoying (he's been there so he knows). It's just that he knows how the newspapers taste, sue him, he's a man of science and nothing short of empiric evidence can satisfy his curiosity.

"Nah, I got eight hours a day to myself, total. Not gonna waste them sleeping, skipped the gym for too long already." She rolls her eyes at his smirk. "And yeah I just can't handle that much time farting around." She turns fully to him and half sits on the edge of Jinx's bed. "Anyway, I don't suppose you sneaked in here for a social call, so go on. Nobody's gonna listen in on us here."

He shoots her a dubious look, slightly tilting his head towards the very much present criminal.

"Aw come on Jayce. What's she gonna do with it? It's not like she'll spill when her head's off. Or whatever the higher-ups cook up for her."

"Hmpf, it's your fault if this goes sideways." Jayce had hoped they could talk tete-a-tete but... truth be told, Jinx's presence doesn't make much difference for what he has to say. The vigilante seats himself on the chair, wondering how to begin. "I started looking into things two days after you caught miss bomber here. Just the usual, you know, blackmail... extortion. There was this one guy-"

* * *

"Well, now that that's done with," Jayce begins as he presses Mercury Hammer into the arms dealer's chest, eliciting a pained groan from the fool. Really, they always either fight or run, as if either can help them, not even an ounce of courtesy to simply give up right away. "You're going to list me all the nice people you've been selling ammo lately."

"Man, I'm telling you I don't fucking know who you mean!" He shouts in panic. Hm, maybe he did actually forget who his captor mentioned while running for all the nature gave him.

"Two mercenary companies, Zaunite, they bought from you within the last month. Ringing a bell?"

("Actually- kinda. Like something I forghmgh-")

("Shut up Twerp. I'm so getting her a real gag, she freaking ate- eugh, keep your tongue to yourself!")

(" Yrn fhn.")

...the man hurries to respond, cringing as Jayce rests more his body weight upon his hammer.

"I- yeah, yeah they do!" the inventor lets up some of the pressure to encourage his informant's memory. "Bought two times from me, uh, fuck I can't remember exactly." Not surprising, barely anybody ever does, not without a sufficient incentive. It's amazing how rarely does the vigilante meet people with undamaged survival instincts.

"Then I believe it's in your best business to recall those details," He informs the dealer while leaning over him. "I've been having a bad day and I itch to take it out on someone."

"Oh you had a bad day huh?" The pinned man spits out.

"You're not the first arms dealer I've visited today." Futureman responds menacingly. "And I'm slowly losing my patience with your type." Anyone would after missing a dinner because of the crooks' stubbornness. He had hoped to be home an hour ago.

("Oh look at me, I'm so serious and dangerous, you gonna have a bad ti-mhp hghmpf!")

("What did I say?")

"Yeah whatever, look I don't want no trouble, I'll give you the damn papers so just lay off." For a moment, Jayce pretends to gauge the proposition for the dramatic pause effect, then silently does as asked, even going as far as to offer his captive a hand to get up, which the man promptly ignores. No manners at all these types. Money being the only thing eliciting a reaction from them, well, besides violence. No matter, they don't need to be civil. Neither of them plans to ever meet again after all. "Up the stairs, come on. "The merchant urges when, after a considerable amount of cursing and grunting, he finally manages to stand up on his own.

"Eager aren't you?"

"Eager to get you the fuck outta my shop. Sure." Rude. But Jayce can sympathise. He was none too pleased himself when Jinx paid his lab a visit. Granted, the man hasn't done nearly as much damage here as the mad bomber had to his workshop, but the scale hardly matters, it's the intrusion alone. Some of his colleagues were prone to fits of rage when someone as much as borrowed a wrench without asking first. Faust will still not talk with him, three years after the incident.

The spiteful ass.

("Jayce, seriously.")

("Who's Faust?")

They never were that close, he'll be the first to admit. But holding a grudge against him for losing a damned wrench, which he later bought him back of course, is a bit much.

("Oooh, that kind of people. Good for you Hammerhead, who needs 'em.")

Perhaps he really is better off without such acquaintances. He is the one who became a known celebrity after all, not many scientists are, even less care about such things at all. Their loss, if somebody were to ask him-

("Nobody is.")

Which is a pity, he's a brilliant conversationalist after all. Anyway, they move up the stairs to what the Defender of Tomorrow can only assume is an office, it's not really reminiscent of the ones Jayce has been visiting lately. Parts and papers lying all around without any particular visible pattern. There most likely just isn't any.

"Well?" he asks as he settles the shaft of his weapon on the ground, curiously looking around.

"Yeah yeah, it's in my desk, somewhere." Says the man, already rummaging through the contents of the said desk. "Ah, there we go!" he says with a smug grin and leans back.

Nothing happens for a couple of seconds.

"Uh... you were-" Futureman hears a heavy thump, somewhere from where they both came from. And then another, and more, each louder than the one before. He turns around-

-and throws himself to the side just in time for the door to be thrown off its hinges, a hextech suit standing on the other side.

("Yeah!")

"You've messed with the wrong guy Futureman! Should've left when I told you to!" Shouts the arms dealer, already on his way to the suit.

("Yeah!")

("You know, your story's nice and all but I'd kinda like to hear what actually happened?")

Jayce's grip on Mercury Hammer tightens and his eyes narrow. Where in cogs did he get a PBS-CR mark 9? Those only hit the market some two months ago and are still expensive enough to buy a house with one of them. He himself only ever had the opportunity to tinker with a mark 7 and that was two years ago. And while it would no longer qualify as state of the art, it still easily-

("What are those PB-somethings?")

...uh...

("So do you MIND, sticking to what's important?")

Or perhaps it is just a remote controlled mining suit, the likes of which Jinx has seen great many times as they and the ones used in warehouses are basically the same thing. In fact, she rather regularly sees parts of them as Vi's gauntlets are simply heavily modified forearms of said suits.

("Wait, you serious? Pft- pfhahahaha!")

("Jayce... can you just get to the point?")

...

Jayce beats the guy up, then takes the costumer list. The end. There, happy?

* * *

"Hey! You don't interrupt a story time!" Jinx complains indignantly, her voice pitched high enough for the man to cringe.

"He was bullshitting half of- " Vi starts only to be immediately interrupted.

"It was fun! You don't tell me stories- let's tie you up to your stupid chair 'n see how you like it!" She bursts out (and Jayce just barely manages to hide his bark of laughter behind a cough, if she only knew...), annoyance painting on the girl's features for a second as she looks at Vi, just for a second though, before she looks at the ceiling, her scowl suddenly giving way to a genuine smile. "Hey Hammerhead, how's your dump shakin' up?"

The man's eye ticks at the boundless cheer contained in her question.. He looks to his friend, suddenly feeling inclined to not only back Vi in her plan to acquire a gag, but even to go as far as to buy it himself.

"Why do I bother-" Vi trails off for a moment before turning to Jayce. "So you say you got some list? What's on it?"

"Names, or pseudonyms at least. Something to track anyway. Money flow and weapons listed, all one needs to track down a mark." He smirks at the astonished look on Vi's face. He rarely gets that particular reaction from her.

"You serious? Wait, why didn't you give it to Pomeroy?"

"Yeah well there's investigators nesting in there and I hear all the papers go through them at some point. It would be a bit troublesome to explain where the Deputy got the info from and- you know, for me how I got it. So here I am, asking you for help instead."

"Damn I'd love to but I'm stuck here fourteen a day." She pauses, contemplating for a moment. "And I can't just call up my old friends and ask around you know, would have to find them in person. And that would take more time than I have at the present." She finishes, somewhat dejectedly.

"Which is something I've already considered, don't worry. The thing is, I already know where to look and just... need a way to get in there without making a scene, and that's going to be hard without you." That is actually going to be hard regardless, with or without Vi.

"Sure? Say the word." Well, somebody's eager.

"I need you to go to Toxicity with me." He manages to hold back from drawling but it's a near thing. The reaction his statement gets is just about what he could expect. Vi snorts and shakes her head, a goofy smile plastered onto her face as if she's just heard a particularly good joke. It slowly melts off her lips when she looks at him and doesn't see his own smirk.

"...you're not joking." She deadpans.

"Completely serious this time. The money was forwarded through the owner, and Vi, those sorts of contacts-"

"Don't form in a day- I know." She bites on her knuckle, an uneasy grimace painting her features. "Rust. I mean I always knew she's dealing with some seedy stuff but this? Fucks sake-" She stands up and starts pacing. "I thought she was going straight." He barely restrains himself from saying that her types never do. Barely. And only because saying so would do injustice to his friend.

"Who?" butts in Jinx, her expression being one of displeasure at being so out of depth in the conversation. Ah well, not his problem.

"Alright," Jayce's friend stops her pacing, staring far off into a place only she can see. "Yeah I'll come with you. When?"

"Soon as we can, you up for it tonight?"

"You guys suck." The bound terrorist grumbles in her bed, finally drawing a reaction from the Enforcer.

"Yeah well deal with it, be nice and maybe I'll bother to explain later." Huh, the girl must have really been a nuisance for Vi to not just ignore her. Then again, during his short visit Jinx has already managed to convince him she needs to be gagged.

"Really?" the criminal asks, and Jayce honestly doesn't know how to feel about the puppy eyed look the psychopath gives the officer, dangerous, deceiving and earnest at the same time. The eyes of someone as willing to hug as to strangle the other person.

"I said maybe, don't push it." She says with a slight slump in her shoulders and frustration colouring her voice. The two signs that tell Jayce she will indeed give in later, if just to quiet the bluenette for a moment. It seems to be working for now as the girl in question stops squirming and settles down in her place, still observing the woman but not saying anything for the time being. "Anyway, yeah I'm up for tonight, want me to pick you up?" She adds with a devilish smirk.

Women. He swears.

"That would be nice, yes. No weapons, please. I hear there's a crowd at night." Something that she should know better than him, but still, it never hurts to be sure.

"Oh you've no idea, um, try to look business like. Well unless you're trying to make a statement?" And there it is, another devious smirk of hers, ugh.

"Gears no," he answers, faking offence. "Business only. I get it."

"I don't." Mutters the bed ridden criminal, only just loud enough to be heard.

* * *

Damn finally, I was writing this for the last two months and it felt off key until only very recently. Either way, we're moving out of Jinx's small room again.


End file.
